get in step

If we live by the Spirit, let us also keep in step with the Spirit.

Galatians 5:25

This simple verse calls me to an entire lifestyle. It encourages me as I hear the Word of God, belonging to the Son of God (Galatians 5:24), to live by the Spirit of God. The Holy Spirit is supposed to lead my life, set my pace, show my way, and be my life. He does this through leading me to apply the fruit of the Spirit in my character and actions. He calls and convicts me to put to death what is wrong and to live in what is right. These are active things: putting to death, and walking in the Spirit. I don’t just sit and wait. I am convinced and then obey.

And keeping in step with the Spirit begins right now. Every time I am in scripture, the active and powerful Word of God can be put into use in my life through the Spirit of God. He shows me the way. I walk in line after Him. And in this way the Lord will lead me... day after day... all for His glory.

To live by the Spirit is to then visibly and radically obey the Word of God as clear instruction comes to me. It is lived out, not just filed away. A Christian life is not hidden, but known, as the Spirit of God walks Christians through holiness and change.

the centurion’s faith

And when the centurion, who stood facing him, saw that in this way he breathed his last, he said, “Truly this man was the Son of God!”

Mark 15:39

The centurion was a hardened soldier assigned to lead a death squad of Roman executioners. They were ruthlessly, bloody efficient. He had doubtless crucified more Jews than he could remember. He was used to it. It was his job to do Rome’s dirty work of securing the “Pax Romana” at the cost of the fear of state execution. Brutality was his business. And his crew was mercilessly efficient at the grisly torture of crucifixion.

But this tough warrior has an unexpected tender moment of faith when witnessing the death of Jesus. He saw something very different in the way that Jesus died. It got his attention. He is convinced that this man who didn’t just die a criminal’s death, but gave up His life to the last breath, was very different. This was the Son of God! He blurts it out in astonishment.

The text does not tell us that the centurion knew all the details of Christ’s ministry, teaching, healing, or confrontations with the Jewish religious leaders. He may have connected some of those pieces through rumors he had heard, or through what he had seen over the hours of Jesus’ testimony and trials. But what changed this man’s heart was the way that Jesus died. He recognized a saving truth: Jesus died as the Son of God. This is the gospel we believe today. And the centurion’s words rightly summarize the life, the identity, the mission, and the death of Jesus.

O Lord Jesus, Son of God,

You are indeed the only Son of God. Your death confirmed it. Your resurrection forever makes You Lord and Judge over all of us. And like the centurion, I look on Your sacrifice and in praise I know You truly are the Son of God... my only hope... my only worship... my Savior!

Amen

worship now and forever

But we will bless the Lord

from this time forth and forevermore.

Praise the Lord!

Psalm 115:18

Worship is what my heart was made to do. I am always worshiping, the question is: Am I praising the Lord when I do? I was created always worshiping, always adoring, always longing for something greater, always looking to something or Someone transcendent for my fulfillment. But my heart does not always worship God. I can be an idolater.... all too easily. That is a foolish part of human nature and you can see the folly of it in the description in Psalm 115:4-8. It is foolishness to be worshiping anything that is not God.

I must consciously resist my heart’s longing for improper worship. I must repent when I want things, or other people, or my own desires to give to me what I can only truly have in Jesus. I must turn from my idols to serve the loving God! And when I do, my course is set free in glorious worship forever. I will bless the Lord from this time forth and forevermore! I will praise Him at my morning time in His Word. I will worship Him as I work. I will rejoice in Him in the joys and pleasures of life that He showers upon me, feeling His love and finding my pleasure in His delight in me with those good gifts of life! I will wander woods, lakes, rivers, mountains, canyons, and valleys knowing the God Who made them has given me the joy of being with Him in all places. I will go through dark times, tough climbs, painful lessons submitting to His loving care in worship. I will bless the Lord as I worship with His saints, submitting to His Word, being led by His Spirit, and obeying the call to let His gospel be known. I was born to worship the Lord and it is what I do.

Lord Jesus,

May my praise-filled heart worship You. Thank You for this call to worship this morning. I will bless Your great name now and forevermore. Thank You for ALL Your blessings in the possession of my good gifts from Your hand! I praise You. I worship You. I confess my heart does wander to useless idols. And in repentance I return. You are my only true praise forevermore!

Amen

Only Jesus is the true king.

And Pilate again said to them, “Then what shall I do with the man you call the King of the Jews?” And they cried out again, “Crucify him.”

Mark 15:12-13

Political expediency was one of many complicated factors that led Jesus to His death. Of course it would be wrong to blame either Pilate’s fickle politics, or the Jewish leadership’s hatred of Jesus for what Jesus came to willingly do. In the sovereign plan of God, the Lamb of God had come to be slain in order to carry away the sin of the world. The politics and the hate among human institutions were just more sins for which Jesus would die.

Between the hard-nosed right wing politics of the Jewish Sanhedrin and the fickle power politics of oppressive Rome, Jesus hung on the cross. And there the true King became Lord of lords and King of kings. By dying to defeat death, atoning for all sin, and three days later rising from death the victor over all, Jesus now reigns over every human institution. He is in control. Jesus rules and reigns, and one day He shall return to set aside all the mess that human beings have made in our self-governing failures. And every knee shall bow to the rule of Jesus. And every tongue shall confess that Jesus is Lord to the glory of God the Father.

I do not wonder why our present politics worldwide are such an insane mess. They always have been. Yet no supreme leader, no dictator, no king, no president, no scientific bureaucracy, no business genius, no gifted artist, no congress or parliament can fix the world’s problems. Only Jesus transforms lives on a global scale. Only His rule in His body, the Church, makes people one in Him to the glory of God. Only the gospel can be the good news this world needs most to hear and believe. And only Jesus is the King!

distributing freely

He has distributed freely; he has given to the poor;

his righteousness endures forever;

his horn is exalted in honor.

Psalm 112:9

I’ve learned the hard way that following the middle class herd in the American Dream is a path to bondage and frustration. 

Generosity is what pays. The dividends that return when we share with others far exceed the cost of what we gave. Kindness is satisfying and rewarding. The righteousness we show as Christ empowers generous lives endures long beyond the gifts we may give. We make an impact for eternity. I’m so into that vision!

Christ commissioned His apostles to preach the gospel accompanied by generous lives... “freely you have received, freely give” (Matthew 10:8). He wants the gospel to be accompanied by kindness shown to others in generous love. He wants His followers to share all that they have been blessed to share. He wants the blessing of giving to those in need to be known in the lives of His people as the gospel message is accompanied by truly good works. We will be blessed if we follow Jesus’ lead and give our lives to this vision with no reservations about it!

I will give of my life freely. I will sacrifice when needed. I will order my income, abilities, and resources around kingdom priorities and NOT the selfish appeal of the American Dream. I want the blessing of truly blessing other people to keep blessing me. I reject personal wealth creation as my vision for life. I run from frustrating debt, a lazy retirement scheme, and materialistic pressures. I seek to live with simplicity, kindness, and generosity as my companions for all my days.

God provides and remembers.

He provides food for those who fear him;

he remembers his covenant forever.

Psalm 111:5

From the most basic of my needs, to the most important eternal purpose for this world, God is completely gracious. I write these words as a rainstorm waters the earth here in east Kansas. God is providing, through the power and the beauty of the storm, what we need. I will finish up my time reflecting on this truth, and start my day. A hearty breakfast in next on my Friday agenda. God provided the means and the menu for me to enjoy. His provision is constant. I’ve never known homelessness, or extreme hunger, or crushing poverty that could not meet my needs. God provides.

God also remembers in love. His finest and first provision of care was given to me by Jesus when He died and rose so that my sins would be paid, my eternal life secured, and my life transformed by His grace. I praise Him for this great love for me! Forever in Christ I am remembered in gracious love!

Lord,

I thank You that both now with my daily bread, and forever, in the Bread of Life through Jesus, I am loved and remembered by You. I do not deserve this, for I am a sinner. But by trusting Christ Who is my righteousness, all this is given by extreme, generous, undeserved grace! You are committed to me forever and I am worshipful now and forever.

Amen

grace & peace

Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ, who gave himself for our sins to deliver us from the present evil age, according to the will of our God and Father, to whom be the glory forever and ever. Amen.

Galatians 1:3-5

Grace & peace came to me

from the Father

through the Son

Whose life was given to set me free

Grace & peace by God’s will

Who sent His Son

to deliver me

from sin saved and kept even still

Grace & peace from an evil age

I am preserved

I am made holy

Praising Jesus... I am saved!

Grace & peace to God the glory

let all praises sing

always to Jesus our Savior

as we proclaim salvation’s story!

let them curse

Let them curse, but you will bless!

They arise and are put to shame, but your servant will be glad!

Psalm 109:28

No way in the world will I always be well thought of among all people! Some people just won’t like me. Some will never tell me that. Some will, and we have a shot at working it out. Others may just hate me. Some my mutter curses against me or work against my welfare. I never want to deliberately create that kind of conflict and I hope to offer grace should this kind of thing come into my life when I respond to it. But this kind of thing happens. It happened to David. He had people who cursed him and wished him to be dead.

All of the 109th psalm is a prayer turning these kinds of situations of oppression, false accusations, and curses over to a sovereign God to perform what His righteous justice will decree. And David trusts that God will work these things out. Let the accusers curse, but God will still bless him. Eventually God will expose their sin, be their judge, and put the accusers to shame. And David was happy to let God take care of the whole mess!

So if in the clear course of following Jesus I am accused, cursed, or oppressed, I will seek to learn from David’s faith. Praying for justice while trusting God, secure in the unshakeable belief that He works it all out for our good and His great glory, will always be the best way to respond to personal attacks. And this humble faith is what I hope to always seek.

The world says: “Fight for your rights! Stand up to your bully! Be loud and proud!” But the scriptures call us to yield our rights to God, to let God fight for us and help us withstand, and to humbly declare our faith as we are right in our cause. That is how we will see God bring justice. We can’t make it ourselves, but God will.

breaking the flask

And while he was at Bethany in the house of Simon the leper, as he was reclining at table, a woman came with an alabaster flask of ointment of pure nard, very costly, and she broke the flask and poured it over his head.

Mark 14:3

This was controversial, spontaneous, perhaps scandalous, pure worship. While in the home of a man named Simon, Jesus is enjoying a dinner with his disciples at His host’s generous hospitality. Into this scene, which in the culture would have been a “man’s world”, this unidentified woman enters the room and in an act of contrite worship of Jesus, anoints Him with a flask of the costliest perfume. She gave to Jesus the very best she had. This came at personal cost, not only economically (the perfume is valued as expensive), but also at social cost since it would be unheard of for a woman to interrupt the social protocol of men at a dinner.

We know those around the table were put off by this action. They did not see the worship, just the violation of polite society and the “waste” of money. They were aghast at the very fact that this woman dared to enter the room.... then she did WHAT? Crazy woman! But Jesus did not see it that way at all.

Jesus is not indignant. Instead, Jesus rebukes those who coldly scolded her. He sees her actions as a beautiful thing, an act of worship foreshadowing His upcoming death and burial. He promised her that she will always be remembered faithfully for her sacrificial, heartfelt, costly worship. And her story, repeated in the gospels, is testament to how early Christians quickly believed what Jesus said about her loving worship and agreed that what she did was a beautiful thing worthy of Christian repetition.

Lord,

Like David when he purchased the temple plot, and like this woman who gave the best she had, I cannot give to You what costs me nothing. Though I have nothing as extravagant as nard, I do have this heart... this life. I break this flask before You. I pour this life out to You. It is Yours. I am Yours. All I have is given for Your worship.

Amen

humbling thorn

So to keep me from becoming conceited because of the surpassing greatness of the revelations, a thorn was given me in the flesh, a messenger of Satan to harass me, to keep me from becoming conceited.

2 Corinthians 12:7

Paul admits to two long-term struggles here. One is physical (the infamously ambiguous “thorn... in the flesh”) and the other is spiritual (conceit). Interestingly, the physical problem was given to Paul by God in order to keep the spiritual problem in check. Bookending Paul’s admission of this unwanted “thorn” is the rationale for why Paul suffered this pain: “to keep me from being conceited”. God knew that giving Paul the apostolic revelations he received, without a thorn to temper his pride, would result in a conceited, useless man. And so the glorious truth came at physical cost so that God could have a humbled, obedient, Christ-focused servant.

Paul did not like this “thorn” though. It was “a messenger of Satan to harass” him. It was painful. It was no fun. It was constant. But Paul appreciated that God in wisdom kept the thorn in him for his betterment. God answered Paul’s repeated pleas to remove it with a firm declaration that it would stay, but also with a promise that His grace is sufficient for those who must live with the pain of the shrapnel of thorns.

And this truth strengthened Paul to bear the physical pain. What’s more, he accepted it with the grace that was given to bear it, so that “boasting” in weaknesses became a halllmark of Paul’s ministry. He trusted that the God Who gave him daily grace in the carrying of the thorn would also carry Him through any other difficulty. God’s power is made perfect in weakness.

Even today, God’s power is made great in our weakness. It is best if I am weak. I am strong in the pain of any thorn. I am most useful when I am humbled by what God is doing. Bring me low in pain, so that I might have much power to be upon me! I will thrive when I am trusting God in my difficulties. I will praise Him, then, when I have a thorn!

murmurers

They murmured in their tents,

and did not obey the voice of the Lord.

Psalm 106:25

“Murmur” is one of those words that sounds as bad as it is. Mmmmmuuuurrrmmmmuuurrr. It sounds like the threatening hum of a crowd ready to riot. You can hear the subtle rebellion in the complaining of a murmur. The clearest context to understand the historical heart rebellion behind Israel’s murmuring as described in this psalm is found in Numbers 14:2-4. There, after getting a faithless, pessimistic report from a majority of the spies sent to gather intelligence on Canaan so that Israel can take possession of God’s promise, the Israelites threaten to find another leader and hike right back to live in slavery in Egypt. Murmuring was rebellion against God and the authority that God had sovereignly placed over the people.

Situational complaining is an art form and almost a “right” for most of us today. We are all opinionated consumers who expect to get what we want, when we want it, how we want it, and will post the pictures immediately when we do or we don’t get this! We read crowd-sourced reviews like they are scripture, empowering every person with a smartphone, including ourselves, to be a trusted critic. All the while we casually dismiss that God’s common grace is the source of all we have in this life! We may think Amazon and Walmart are the greatest providers of all we need in our lives as we sojourn upon earth, but this is just not the case. God is our sovereign. And we don’t get to review His providence in order to get better customer service.

Lord,

I sense in my own heart a tendency to murmur against Your good grace. I tend to see You as the purveyor at the drive-up window, ready with my fast food, but hardly view You as my Lord. I want to critique every experience, hoping all my days are filled with “likes”, 5 star rated service, and instant delivery of what I see and want. I am a dreadful consumer of everything,,, including pop religion... more than a dedicated follower of Jesus, Who did not have a home! If this persists in me, I have no doubt that You will put me in some wilderness so that I might be forced to know I can only trust by faith in You alone. And may I be thankful, worshipful, and obedient... all of which are the opposite of murmuring!

Amen

something not God

Both we and our fathers have sinned;

we have committed iniquity; we have done wickedness.

Our fathers, when they were in Egypt,

did not consider your wondrous works;

they did not remember the abundance of your steadfast love,

but rebelled by the sea, at the Red Sea.

Psalm 106:6-7

Israel’s walk with God was a history of consistent failure. And if I am honest, in my fight against sin, I am no different. Israel quickly forgot God’s love and blessing when the people focused on their wants and problems. Again, this is also my tendency. I need the constant reminders of God’s faithfulness, human sinfulness, God’s correction, and loving provision as lives are transformed by His mercies in repentance and faith. And psalms like this one that recount a history of failure followed by grace that praises God keep me focused.

It is human nature to be overcome by our desires. The cycle of sin and failure begins when the lure of personal desire overtakes the worship of the Lord (see James 1:14-15 for all the gory details of just how this works... I find it so true of my heart). And when what I want drives my heart, I am worshiping something that is not God. So I should not be surprised that idolatry is a theme again and again in Psalm 106... it is sort of a theme also playing out in my life as well when I am honest about my affiliations! I want... I worship what I want or what I think will provide what I want... then I sin and ultimately fail as I find God visiting my idolatries with the consequences of fruitlessness, disappointment... or worse.

But God does wondrous redemptive work! God shows steadfast love. And in my repentance, I will turn from idols to serve the living God. I lay aside my lusting heart’s demands and instead I worship Jesus. I remember the abundance of His grace poured out on the cross and His power shining in an empty tomb. I marvel that He would forgive a sinner such as me. I reject my rebellion that seeks “something not God” and embrace His miraculous deliverance, so that Jesus is my Savior, my King, my life!

changing scale

And he gave them the lands of the nations,

and they took possession of the fruit of the peoples' toil,

that they might keep his statutes

and observe his laws.

Praise the Lord!

Psalm 105:44-45

A brief retelling of Israel’s history, from the call of Abraham to the conquest of Canaan, is retold in song through the 105th psalm. And it reminds us that God has his own scale and scope to doing His work... vastly more than in one lifetime. The psalm downplays Israel’s struggles against God and their lack of faith and instead emphasizes the sovereign plan of God as He was able to bring His people to the Promised Land. It emphasizes the faithfulness of God and Israel’s covenantal obligation to live under God’s Law.

Key people were part of this history of the covenant of the Law. Abraham received the first promise. Isaac and Jacob continues as heirs of this promise. The first three generations died not seeing the full measure of God’s promise, but believing God would do it. Joseph was “sent ahead” to Egypt through painful personal circumstances to rise to saving power for the sons of Jacob so that Israel might grow to be a mighty people there. God then used Moses, generations down the line, to deliver them from slavery so that all of God’s promise to Abraham might find fulfillment as Moses led them out of Egypt singing!

All the emphasis upon God’s faithfulness to His Word throughout generations reminds me of the cosmic, eternal perspective of redemption that God is still doing. It took hundeds of years and number of generations for God’s promise to Abraham to come to fulfillment with Israel in the Promised Land. It took centuries more in the “fullness of time” for God to send Jesus to save us all so that all nations might join in the blessing. And it has taken two millennia of gospel proclamation in church history (so far) for the good news to go out into all the world. God’s timing is never off, neither too fast nor too slow. It just isn’t our timing at all! He is making all things new. It’s His time. Praise the LORD!

generous in every way

He who supplies seed to the sower and bread for food will supply and multiply your seed for sowing and increase the harvest of your righteousness. You will be enriched in every way to be generous in every way, which through us will produce thanksgiving to God.

2 Corinthians 9:10-11

Grace should create grace. The generous love of Christ compels those redeemed by Jesus to return generous love back to Christ and outward to other people. It should not be the case that Christians are selfish skinflints! We should be the most generous of people. Paul wrote outstanding words of commendation to the Corinthian church regarding their generosity. And remember in the first letter to them, they were shown to be a church with a huge host of problems: divisiveness, immaturity, immorality, doctrinal ambiguity, apathy toward sin, and a casual view of authority. But despite all this, they knew how to give because of grace. And once they repented of their shallow sins, their generosity became even greater.

I am not perfect. I have had my own selfish nature repeatedly hit by the wrecking ball of the gospel! Jesus has to demolish a lot in me still... a work that I must see as ongoing. But He has also given me the hope of being generous. I am not generous in order to earn anything from God because I cannot earn grace. Rather, I do so out of love for His grace. I’m not particularly rich by my culture’s standards. Neither am I poor. I am the blessed American living in the lower middle class. We get by comfortably. I’ve never gone to bed hungry. I’ve always had a home. I can travel where I please. I enjoy so many good gifts, it is outrageous, particularly as I have travelled and seen other people and places in the world so vastly different.

I am aware of my blessed position. And I want to be generous as a result. I hope to get to the place where I can give away a majority of my income... investing in Christ’s kingdom through Christian stewardship, helping the poor, volunteering my time, bettering the world, and living in simplicity. And God will still provide for me as He promises so that I may be generous with His blessings to me in every way!

from on high

The Lord has established his throne in the heavens,

and his kingdom rules over all.

Psalm 103:19

From on high

from heavenly throne

the Lord looks down

upon His own

His kingdom’s vast

expanse is universal

nothing evades Him

all under His control

Established eternal throne

looking down on us

exalted Lord of all

is King Jesus!

Forever He reigns

over land and sea

extending His rule

in you and me

In my heart

Jesus is King

all my life

His devoted thing

From on high

in all He sees

I surrender now

Jesus rules me

surrounded

For even when we came into Macedonia, our bodies had no rest, but we were afflicted at every turn—fighting without and fear within.

2 Corinthians 7:5

When we give to the Lord all that we have, serving Him faithfully and tirelessly, we still can expect pain and difficulty. Paul described his arrival into Macedonia as a time of total affliction both of body and soul. He was surrounded by physical threats and struggled with internal fears. But God provided encouragement.

Just in time, Titus arrived with the good news that encouraged a weary and perhaps discouraged apostle: the Corinthians had responded in tender repentance to Paul’s strong admonition in the letter known as 1 Corinthians. They were obeying the gospel. They had turned from their divisiveness, immaturity, immorality, and doctrinal apathy and sought to communicate their genuine faith to Paul. This strengthened the apostle. A loving God brought encouragement to His servant.

There are seasons of hard work, and we may feel bad, but God is good. There are pains we bear as we grieve sin in ourselves and in others, but God grants mercy, repentance, and forgiveness in Christ. God gives strength to the weary. He rewards the faithful. And in that grace all the difficulties are worth it! Amen!

the tragedy of people pleasing

Saul said to Samuel, “I have sinned, for I have transgressed the commandment of the Lord and your words, because I feared the people and obeyed their voice.”

1 Samuel 15:24

Sometimes the fear of people is stronger in us than the fear of the Lord and the consequences of such misplaced worship are great. King Saul’s disobedience illustrates this all too well. Instead of completely destroying the Amalekites as God commanded and provided the means to do, Saul chose instead to keep their king alive as a war trophy, as well as some choice livestock, claiming he planned to offer them as sacrifices before the Lord. When confronted, Saul claimed his motives came out of pressure from the people. The only clue we have of this is in 1 Samuel 15:9 where the text says Saul “and the people” did these things.

Regardless of motive, Saul was king (God gave him the responsibility of leading others, not pleasing others), and God had given clear commands. Saul appears to failed both as a leader of people and as a follower of God. His failure would cost him the throne. God sent Samuel to confront Saul, deliver the message of the end of his kingship, and to finish the job of destroying the Amalekites. When confronted, Saul was sorrowful. Saul was confessional. But it was too little, too late. God had decreed an end to Saul’s failed leadership. Fear of man would lead to his undoing.

Saul is a lesson to guard my heart. My motives for service and for leadership should be defined by obedience to and worship of the Lord. There is no room for concern for my reputation or for engaging in people-pleasing. When love and respect for God leads me to properly love and respect people, God will bless me. It is a disaster to reverse the order!

groaning

For while we are still in this tent, we groan, being burdened—not that we would be unclothed, but that we would be further clothed, so that what is mortal may be swallowed up by life.

2 Corinthians 5:4

The longer we live, the more we will groan. This isn’t necessarily a groan of aches and pains, of arthritic joints and tight tendons, though I do know some of these! No, this is a groaning that longs for the affects of mortality to be gone, to know the joy of life everlasting fully realized with God the Father through the redemption of our bodies in Christ Jesus. It is an anticipation to be living that new, full life in Christ our Lord as our old tent goes down and new life in a redeemed body begins.

With maturity comes wisdom, and I deeply appreciate that. There are also certain physical challenges and changes along the way. We hurt in places we never knew we would feel pain. We may slow down. We may find trouble getting rest. We may be presented with physical limitations and diseases. We may struggle to follow our former pace. All of these are the expressions of groaning our bodies do in us. These experiences call us to long for and to appreciate the glory yet to come.

Lord Jesus,

I thank You that what is mortal in me, what has started to groan with creaking knees, stiff fingers, degenerating disks, straining eyesight, graying beard, and faith yearning for eternity is all going to one day be swallowed up in eternal life! I shall endure the humble deterioration of my “tent” until that day! I know that my Redeemer lives and at the last he will stand upon the earth. And after my skin has been thus destroyed, yet in my flesh I shall see God!

Amen

what the gospel is and isn’t

For what we proclaim is not ourselves, but Jesus Christ as Lord, with ourselves as your servants for Jesus' sake.

2 Corinthians 4:5

The gospel isn’t about me. It isn’t about my wonderful testimony, or my great teaching, or my powerful proclamation, or my dramatically changed life. The gospel isn’t man-centered. It isn’t about me being a better person, or smarter, or more spiritual, or theologically sound, or able to make God happy by my changes and my efforts. The gospel is not about me.

The gospel is all about Jesus! It is about Jesus as Savior and only hope. It is about Jesus arriving on earth according to every Old Testament prophet’s vision proclaimed about Him, to live with us, to die for us, to be raised again to revive our condemned zombie souls! It is about Jesus as God in the flesh, miraculously transforming the lives of sinners He loves who come to Him by faith and are healed! It is about Jesus alone as our only Savior, with no shred of self-salvation or pride in our own merits. The gospel is about Jesus!

Who we are once Jesus saves us is our new gospel identity. We are servants of Jesus for the sake of the gospel. We love others with and in and because of the gospel. We identify as servants because the One Who came to serve and to give His life a ransom for many has saved us, called us to follow Him, and we can only humbly serve! Ministry then is about Jesus and not us. Life is about Jesus and not us! Purpose is about Jesus and His saving love and our gospel identity and not about the things we want, or do, or say. The gospel just isn’t about us... it is all about Jesus!

what a blind man saw

And when he heard that it was Jesus of Nazareth, he began to cry out and say, “Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!” And many rebuked him, telling him to be silent. But he cried out all the more, “Son of David, have mercy on me!”

Mark 10:47-48

Bartimaeus believed many things about Jesus based only on what he had heard by reputation. He believed that Jesus was the Messiah sent by God. This is evidenced by him addressing Jesus as the “Son of David”. His faith was founded first in this conviction. 

Secondly, he believed Jesus could heal his blindness. That is the request that he makes when brought to Jesus. Bartimaeus believed God’s healing power was a part of Jesus’ ministry as Messiah, and he made his crying requests based on this faith.

Thirdly, Bartimaeus believed Jesus gave mercy as only God can do. The essence of his cry to Jesus was to beg for mercy. As a blind beggar, Bartimaeus only sustained himself by the sympathetic mercies of those around him. But asking Jesus for mercy was another matter. Now Bartimaeus was begging for the restoring, healing mercy of God Almighty to transform his life. His faith was great.

Finally, Bartimaeus believed that Jesus was worthy to be followed. His first act of faith after Jesus gave him sight was to follow Jesus. He believed, he was restored, and he followed Jesus instantly. What a beautiful picture of faith, salvation, and discipleship! All of this happened because what Bartimaeus believed is still true today. Jesus is a merciful Messiah with the power to save, restore, and provide direction as we follow Him and obey His teaching.