Immediately he arose, took up his bed…so that all were amazed and glorified God saying,
“We never saw anything like this!” Mark 2:12
After church last Sunday, I happened across one of our Sunday-School teacher’s notes.
I love the great doctrine our kids are being taught. I think you too will be blessed at the tremendous truths from these teaching notes—
“As Jesus and His disciples were traveling one day they came across the blind man Bartimaeus…sitting on the side of the road begging for food. “Jesus have mercy upon me” he yelled. This is how life was for Bartimaeus. Earlier in his life he could see, so he could do as he pleased, just as anyone could. Until one day… he couldn’t.
We don’t know what caused his vision to cease, but we do know it must have been really hard, just like it was really hard for you to play that game. Life was so hard for blind Bartimaeus he had to sit on the side of the road and beg for food.
One thing I noticed was what Jesus said to him—“Go; your faith has made you well.”
Jesus didn’t ask him if he had followed the Ten Commandments. He didn’t make him give everything away. He didn’t make him promise to tell others, or even go to church. Why do you think that is?”
Jesus would love it if he did all those things. He didn’t and I don’t. No one does. That’s because we all sin and do things we shouldn’t do.
And even though Bartimaeus didn’t do all those things, Jesus healed him anyway. Do you know why? Because God does not ask us to earn His mercy. We can’t earn it, but He wants us to have it anyway, so instead of earning it, he just wants us to have faith and ask.
We are all spiritually blind too and in need of a savior. In order to go to Heaven, you have to be saved. But can you earn salvation? No, you can’t. Instead, all God asks us to do is have faith and ask. That’s all we have to do! We can’t earn it, but God can give it away.
God still wants us to try to be our best. He still wants us to try and follow the Ten Commandments, and go to church, and tell others about Jesus, but it isn’t going to earn us a place in Heaven, just like it wasn’t going to give bind Bartimaeus back his eyesight.
We don’t have to worry about trying to earn our way to Heaven. Yes we should do what He asks, but to get to Heaven and be saved we just need to ask God to save us, and believe that He will!”
Maranatha!