“And Jesus said to [Bartemaeus] ‘Go thy way; your faith has made you whole. And immediately he received his sight, and followed Jesus in the way.” – Mark 10:52

When I finally got my first car, a lot of things suddenly started to change.

For example, it became harder to get to work and Church on time, ironically. 

I became grumpy because of having to give lifts. 

I started spending more money on the car and less on giving.

Apparently, the car was not making me a better person.

There’s a way our lifestyles change drastically (for the worse) when we finally get married; when we finally get that dream job or promotion; when we finally get the baby; when we finally move into our own home; when we finally move to the country of our dreams.

I mean the miracle has a way of setting us off into a whole new attitude, sometimes contrary to the values that we have always held dear.

In our meditation Scripture today, we look at a man who was born blind.

My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me”

JOHN 10:27

From birth, he didn’t know what flowers looked like. Never had he looked into his mother’s or his wife’s eyes. 

For a livelihood, blind Bartemaeus survived on begging for a few coins by the roadside.

Then he heard that Jesus was passing on that road. After shouting his voice hoarse as he called out to Jesus to heal him, the Savior stopped and called him over.

It was an instant miracle of healing. “Go your way,” Jesus said to him after healing him.

Oh boy, this guy had a lot of life to catch up with after decades as a blind man, you know.

But Bartemaeus was smarter than that, rather than going his way, the Bible says; “he followed Jesus in the way.”

Are God’s miracles and breakthroughs in your life bringing you closer to Him or making you drift further away from Him?

It’s sad to see a person drift away from God after miraculously getting a visa to the USA or Europe.

God’s will is that everything He does for you should make you follow Him in His ways.

That’s the surest way to make your breakthrough sustainable.

God is calling us to have the ‘Caleb Spirit’ that “follows Him fully”: “But My servant Caleb, because he has a different spirit in him and has followed Me fully, I will bring into the land where he went, and his descendants shall inherit it” (Numbers 14:24). See also 32:11-12; Joshua 14:8-9.

That shows us that wholly following Jesus has awesome rewards.

On the other hand, the Scriptures warn us against negative peer pressure: “You shall not follow a crowd to do evil (Exodus 23:2).

We’re also warned against following other ‘gods’/idols (Judges 2:12).

Mark you, even our favorite persons could become ‘idols’ when we make them take the place of Jesus.

The Good Shepherd says; “My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me” (John 10:27).

Like the old song says, our daily prayer should be; “I have decided to follow Jesus, no turning back!”

Prayer:     

Lord Jesus, though no one goes with me, I still will follow You, always. Help to walk in Your footsteps, one step at a time, for the rest of my days. For the Your glory, Amen!