Month: September 2022

The story of Bartimaeus (see Luke 18:35-43) is a simple story of one man’s faith and how God, through the Person of His Son Jesus, acknowledged that faith. Bartimaeus was a blind man who cried out to the Lord to restore his sight.  

Bartimaeus is notable because he saw Jesus as more than just a man or a healer or a miracle worker; by calling him, “Jesus, Son of David,” he was acknowledging Jesus as the Jewish Messiah, whereas the sighted people following Jesus merely called Him “Jesus of Nazareth.”

Jesus Can Work Miracles

SOMETIMES, I FEEL LIKE I just need a miracle. Someone Big, Strong, Powerful, and Important to show up, snap his fingers, and make all of my problems go away. 

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SCRIPTURAL SUPPORT

• Luke 18:38 (NKJV): And he cried out, saying, “Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!”

• Luke 18:43 (ESV): “And immediately he recovered his sight and followed him [Jesus], glorifying God. And all the people, when they saw it, gave praise to God.”

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Sometimes, I just want a super-hero to swoop in, whether he flies like Superman or Mighty Mouse, or clings to the web like Spider Man, or drives a supercharged sports car like Batman and Robin, to “save the day” for the good guys.

Ever feel like that? I’m sure you do. We all do. It’s normal. It’s part of life here on planet Earth. Despite all of our joys and happy moments, we all feel there is something desperately wrong with our lives and our condition. 

We feel alienated, as if we don’t belong here. 

In reality, we don’t. 

Philippians 3:20 (NIV) tells us “our citizenship is in heaven.” In Hebrews 11, we learn that the Old Testament saints were “looking forward to a city with eternal foundations” (Hebrews 11:10 NLT), while Solomon reminds us that God “set eternity in the hearts of men.” (Ecclesiastes 3:11 BSB)

LEARNING FROM A BLIND MAN

We may blame Adam and Eve for their disobedience, because our separation from God results from the curse from their disobedience, but truth be told, we have enough disobedience of our own. So, we can blame ourselves.

As we know, God in His mercy stepped in and reclaimed us through the life, death, burial, and resurrection of His Son, so believing in Him puts us back together again (unlike Humpty Dumpty, who remains a hopeless creature of brokenness). 

However, in our brokenness, we need to continue to seek God, to repent of our sins, and  to knock on the door of fellowship.

Bartimaeus, the blind man in Luke’s story, shows us how simple faith is all that it takes to restore that broken relationship that our sin, and only our sin, caused.

EXAMINING THE LESSON

I’M INDEBTED TO Pastor Gary Hamrick, Cornerstone Chapel, Leesburg, Va., for his insight and exegesis of this Scriptural passage.

We see five lessons or “take-aways” from Bartimaeus:

1. He believed that Jesus is a miracle-working God
2. He appealed to the mercy of God
3. He dismissed the voices of doubt
4. He exercised faith in God
5. He gave all the glory to God.

In Luke’s account, Bartimaeus is a blind man who lost his sight, probably from an infection, which was common in that day. Once a hearty man, he was reduced to begging by a busy commercial route.

One day, he heard a loud commotion as a small army of excited passers-by kicked up dust in his face. He called out, asking who was there. Several in the crowd, proudly following Jesus on His way to Jerusalem and the Cross, replied that it was “Jesus of Nazareth.” 

A dismissive appellation, really, as He was more than just a regular bloke.  He also was Almighty God. 

But Bartimaeus, the man who couldn’t see because of his physical blindness, could see “spiritually” more than what Jesus’ followers — we might call them the “church” — saw.

Bartimaeus knew that Jesus was, and is, the Lord.

ARE WE SEEKING MIRACLES

DO WE LOOK FOR MIRACLES? How many of us truly believe the Creator of the universe would bother Himself with showing us a miracle when (1) He has so much other work to do, and (2) Other people either are more worthy than we are or are in more desperate need? 

Yet, our Lord assured us in His earthly ministry that not even a sparrow falls without the Father’s notice (Matthew 10:29-31) and that we, His image-bearers (Genesis 1:26-27), are infinitely more important to Him than sparrows.

Certainly, this view is the deception the Liar, the Great Deceiver, whispers in our ears that, yes, God can, will, and does perform miracles today … just not for you (John 8:44; 10:10a).

Yet, look again at the plight of Bartimaeus and his faith in Jesus as Lord. A blind beggar sitting along a dusty road, totally dependent on the generosity of stingy, self-centered heathens for is survival, was important enough to Jesus that on His way to the Cross, Jesus stopped the procession, called him over, inquired of his wishes, and granted it immediately.

Why would anyone not believe that same Lord would look upon us with the same measure of compassion, love, forgiveness, and healing.

He Still Can. 

He Still Will. 

He Still Does.

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 PRAYER

Dear Father God, we need a miracle. We need You to swoop down and heal our souls, heal our hearts, heal our world. 

 We need humility in our lives to bend our wills to Yours, to repent of our sins, and to turn in a new direction, one that imitates the life of our Lord Jesus. 

Forgive us, Lord, for our disobedience, and set a new heart within us, one of flesh and not of stone, one of humility and not of pride. In the name of Jesus we raise this prayer.  AMEN

FOR SOME REASON, our country is embroiled in a debate over an issue that should be firmly settled: the role parents play in overseeing their children’s education. 

 Those on one side of the political spectrum — the conservative side — say parents should have a voice over the educational material. While they don’t insist on determining the curriculum or grade standards, they want oversight over core values, including what passes for acceptable information on sexual behavior and issues related to race and gender identity.

Those on the other side — I’m not even sure why there is an other side, but it’s the liberal side — supports the indoctrination of our youth to comply with liberal politics of the national teachers unions. 

WHAT’S YOUR GENDER?

ADD TO THE LEFT’S support of same-sex attraction as a normal “alternative” life style is its sadistic support of children changing their gender, from recognizing the alternate first names they choose corresponding with their new gender to honoring the gender-appropriate pronouns accompanying their new gender identity. 

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THE BIBLE TELLS US to teach our children well, tell them  about God and, as mothers and fathers, discipline them in the Lord with love and patience. 

Yet, in today’s world, most of our children are taught (programmed?) by government-run public schools, many of which promote non-biblical values and demonize parents who raise objections. 

How can that be?

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That’s before we get to racial relations, where the left divides the classroom into “oppressors” and “oppressed” based on their race; global climate change hysteria; and demonizing our country’s Founding Fathers for having owned slaves, a common practice at the time, before Christians were able to put a stop to it.

While slave ownership is not something to admire, it was common around the globe 200 years ago, and our Founders struggled with the idea.

GENERATIONAL MORAL CODE

JUDGING ONE GENERATION’s moral code by the morality of another generation hundreds of years later is a monumental misstep. Not only can the deceased not defend themselves but it leaves their  detractors open to the same scapegoating from generations yet to come.

Would leftists who sanctimoniously condemn slaveholders George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, and James Madison — giants of an earlier era who brought forth the American Experiment — want the spotlight turned on them?

What moral failings of today could our progeny point to in disgust? Let’s look at a few examples:

• Abortion Rights — killing innocent lives in the womb;
• Exorbitant Debt — passing down entitlements costs to future generations;
• Urban Decay — skyrocketing violent crime;
• Educational Failure — declining test scores.

To that short list, we can add inflation, porous borders, mask mandates, and cancellation of dissent, plus many more. 

Would today’s leftist crusaders want to stand up to values scrutiny from moral scolds 200 years from now based on THAT record?

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SCRIPTURAL SUPPORT

• ISAIAH 54:13 (NKJV): All your children shall be taught by the Lord, and great shall be the peace of your children. 

• PROVERBS 1:8-9 (ESV): Hear, my son, your father’s instruction, and forsake not your mother’s teaching, for they are a graceful garland for your head and pendants for your neck.

• MATTHEW 19:14 (NASB20): But Jesus said, “Leave the children alone, and do not hinder them from coming to Me; for the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these.”

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At least our Founding Fathers contributed something useful to hand their successors — a republic!

What contribution will our statue topplers, hero bashers, and sexual perverts leave for THEIR successors?

BIBLICAL VALUES ENDURE

THOSE OF US who take our Bibles seriously, especially those portions instructing us on how to raise our children (“It was that you should have children who are truly God’s people.” Malachi 2:15 (GNT)), know that God’s values, purposes, and agenda never vary. (“Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever.” Hebrews 13:8 (NKJV)) 

What we’re seeing in the government-run schools, however, is anything but the eternal and universal values of our Creator. 

Instead, they are the shadow values of the Great Imitator, the one  Jesus warned us about: “The thief’s purpose is to steal and kill and destroy.” (John 10:10a (NLT))

Jesus contrasts that dismal outlook with His own promise: “I have come so that they may have life, and may have it abundantly.” (John 10:10b (NET))

POSTSCRIPT

THE LORD CLEARLY WANTS us to tell our children about Him, His goodness, His grace, mercy, and love, and also His righteous judgments, reserved for those who reject Him. 

He says, “We will not hide them from their children, but tell to the coming generation the glorious deeds of the LORD, and his might, and the wonders that he has done.” — Psalms 78:4 (ESV)

We are not to leave that chore to the churches and professional Christians but are to handle it ourselves, leading by example and teaching them God’s Word.

Even more important, we need to pray for our children, starting even before they’re conceived in the womb and right through the day we take our last breath on earth. 

God says, “I want Godly children.”

LORD, MAY IT BE SO.

PRAYER

ABBA FATHER GOD, how often do we fail to teach our children of the Lord’s will, of His love and His wrath, of  His mercy and His judgment, of His call on our lives and our duty to obey. As our children grow to adulthood, we lose the role of protective parents with absolute authority to tell them Your truth, but we can continue fervently to pray for their conviction and to lead by example, to the best of our ability, with God’s help. O Lord, have mercy on our children’s souls, and the souls of their children, and so on down the line, that they will not suffer eternally for our failings. Bring them to repentance that our joy may be complete. In the majestic name of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, we pray. AMEN