Luke 18 ESV
And Jesus said to him, “Recover your sight; your faith has made you well.” And immediately he recovered his sight and followed him, glorifying God. And all the people, when they saw it, gave praise to God. (42-43)
This story of the blind beggar is remarkable because it shows the power of Christ to change lives. Jesus meets him on the road and heals him before a massive crowd of onlookers. From the perspective of this formally blind man, there is no more natural response than to follow Jesus and glorify God. That is always the response when Jesus truly intervenes in someone’s life. The initial desire is to follow Him and glorify God. I am sure that when He first saved you, that was your greatest desire at the moment; follow Jesus and glorify God. Unfortunately, for many of us, that initial desire is gradually replaced by a desire to follow our own wishes and glorify ourselves. We must resist that tendency and remember when we were spiritually blind. Let that memory drive your passion back to following Jesus and glorifying God.
Now, of course, we know that Jesus is, Himself, God in the flesh, but notice the reaction of the crowd. After witnessing the healing of the blind man and his response, all the other people praised God. That is also the correct response in the lives of others as they witness God’s work in us. Our desire must be for people to give praise to God. Yet, again, somewhere along the way, we gradually begin giving praise to people and receiving praise from them. There is nothing inherently wrong with showing appreciation to others, but praise always belongs to God. I am always suspicious when someone praises me because of my life, ministry, or teaching. It makes me wonder whether I am doing things in a way that brings glory to me instead of to God. My deepest desire is for people to see God at work in my life and then give praise to Him. When I am walking in the Spirit, people will see God at work and, perhaps, not even notice me there. After all, am I not just a blind man who now sees because of the providence and grace of God?
