This morning, while reading the story of Bartimaeus in the 10th chapter of Mark, Jesus' healing of Bartimaeus' blindness revealed to me some parallels to the salvation process. 

First, although Bartimaeus called out to Jesus for mercy, nothing life-changing transpired until Jesus called for him. His situation, his circumstances, his blindness could not be altered until Jesus did His part. As the people in the crowd said to Bartimaeus, "He's calling you."

And so it is with our salvation. It is true that anyone can call to The Lord at any time, but salvation will only happen when His Holy Spirit is calling to us. The Holy Spirit must do the convicting and prompting and drawing before we can be saved.

In Acts 24, when Paul stood before Felix to stand trial for charges brought against him, Felix listened as Paul "spoke about faith in Christ Jesus."  At this moment, although not expressly stated, I believe that, through Paul's testimony, the Holy Spirit revealed the Truth to Felix, giving him the opportunity to be saved. But Felix found it to be an inconvenient time and passed up that opportunity. 

The fact of the matter is that the Holy Spirit does not operate according to our time table or to suit our convenience. Genesis 6:3 tells us that the Spirit will not contend with man forever. He is under no obligation to continually offer salvation to us and, though He be long suffering, it is His prerogative to limit the opportunities He extends. This is why the prophet Isaiah urges us to "Seek The Lord while He may be found; call on Him while He is near."  Bartimaeus knew that the only chance he might ever have to be healed of his blindness was to call on Jesus while He was near. 

Another parallel between the story of Bartimaeus and salvation is the end result of his exchange with Jesus. His faith in Jesus' ability healed his physical blindness; Scripture tells us he received his sight and followed Him. 

The salvation experience likewise opens our eyes. When we express faith in Jesus' ability as the only Son of God and in His finished work on the Cross, when we trust in the sufficiency of His blood to cleanse us from all unrighteousness and to pay the sacrifice for our sins, that is when we are saved and healed of our spiritual blindness. And that is when, like Bartimaeus, we can truly see and follow Jesus. 

"Father, thank You for providing a way for mankind to be saved and reconciled to You. Thank You for sending Jesus as the Christ, the Savior of the world. Thank You for sending Your Holy Spirit to convict us of our sin, to reveal to us our miserable lostness and our need for salvation. Lord, I pray for those who are blinded to Your Truth. May Your Holy Spirit move upon their hearts and may they respond by calling upon Jesus in faith. God, help us never to live according to our own whims and concepts of convenience or to delay in responding to Your Spirit's call.  Amen."