Your Faith Has Made You Whole
And Jesus stood still, and commanded him to be called. And they call the blind man, saying unto him, Be of good comfort, rise; he calleth thee. And he, casting away his garment, rose and came to Jesus. And Jesus answered and said unto him, What wilt thou that I should do unto thee? The blind man said unto him, Lord, that I might receive my sight. And Jesus said to him, Go thy way; thy faith hath made thee whole. And immediately he received his sight and followed Jesus in the way. (Mark 10:49-52)
The same crowd that had just told Bartimaeus to be quiet suddenly changed their tone completely once Jesus called for him. Now they told him to be of good comfort, that Jesus was calling him. This is worth noticing. The very people who dismissed his cry moments earlier had no problem encouraging him once it became socially acceptable. You cannot let the shifting opinions of people around you determine what you believe about your own situation. The same voices that discourage you can turn around and encourage you, and neither response should shape your faith.
Bartimaeus cast away his garment before rising to go to Jesus, an outer garment that would have been long and cumbersome. That small detail reflects urgency. He removed anything that would slow him down in reaching Jesus quickly. When Jesus asked what he wanted, he was direct and specific: he wanted to receive his sight. And Jesus responded with a phrase that carried the Greek word sozo, meaning his faith had healed him, delivered him, and made him completely whole.
Notice what Jesus attributes this healing to, not merely to His own power alone, but to Bartimaeus' faith specifically. If this man's faith could make him whole, that same principle holds true for you. Faith connected to Jesus produces wholeness. That was true for a blind beggar on the side of a road, and it is still true today.
Practical Application
Identify anything that has been slowing down your pursuit of Jesus, whatever the equivalent of Bartimaeus' garment looks like for you, and set it aside today so you can move toward Him without hesitation.
Hebrews 12:1; Isaiah 55:6
