Daily Devotionals

Devotional: June 27th

THE HEALER AND THE HEALED

And Jesus said unto him, Go thy way; thy faith hath made thee whole. - Mark 10:52

Bartimaeus had scarcely ended speaking when Christ began. He was blind at the beginning of Christ’s little sentence; he saw at the end of it. " Go thy way; thy faith hath saved thee." The answer came instantly, and the cure was as immediate as the movement of Christ’s heart in answer.

I here and now proclaim the possibility of an immediate passage from weakness to light. Some folk look askance at us when we talk about sudden conversions, but these are perfectly reasonable; and the experience of thousands asserts that they are actual. As soon as we desire we have, and as soon as we have we see. Whenever the lungs are open the air rushes in; sometimes the air opens the lung that it may. The desire is all but contemporaneous with the fulfillment, in Christ’s dealings with men. The message is flashed along the wire from earth to heaven in an incalculably brief space of time, and the answer comes swift as thought and swifter than light. So, dear friend, there is no reason whatever why a similar instantaneous change should not pass over you now. You are unsaved; you may be saved. It is for yourself to settle whether you are or are not.

Here we have a clear statement of the path by which Christ’s mercy rushes into a man’s soul. "Thy faith hath saved thee." But it was Christ’s power that saved him. Yes! it was; but it was faith that made it possible for Christ’s power to make him whole. Physical miracles indeed did not always require trust in Christ, as a preceding condition, but the possession of Christ’s salvation does, and cannot but do. There must be trust in Him in order that we may partake of the salvation which is owing solely to His power, His love, His work upon the Cross. The condition is for us; the power comes from Him. My faith is the hand that grasps His. It is His hand, not mine, that holds me up. My faith lays hold of the rope. It is the rope, and the person above that holds it, that lifts me out of the horrible pit and the miry clay. My faith flees for refuge to the City. It is the City that keeps me safe from the Avenger of Blood. Brother! exercise that faith, and you will find that vision. If you will fling away your hindrances, and grope your path to His feet, and fall down before Him, knowing your deep necessity, and trusting to Him to supply it. He will save you. Your new sight will gaze upon your Redeemer, and you will follow Him in the way of loving trust and glad obedience.

Jesus Christ was passing by. He was never to be in Jericho any more. If Bartimaeus did not get his sight then, he would be blind all his days. Christ and His salvation are offered to thee, my friend, now. Perhaps if you let Him pass you will never hear Him call again, and may abide in the darkness for ever. Do not run the risk of such a fate.

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