A Tale of Two Asks

"... 'What is your request?' he asked. They replied, 'When you sit on your glorious throne, we want to sit in places of honor next to you, one on your right and the other on your left.' ... 'What do you want me to do for you?' Jesus asked. 'My Rabbi,' the blind man said, 'I want to see!'" Mark 10:35-52 

There are some "asks" I wish I wouldn't have made. Likewise, there are others I wish I would have made. What about you? For example, I wish I never would have asked to take a turn trying to use a stand up paddle board. I nearly ripped off my fingernail and was stalked by a rather large and intimidating barracuda. On the other hand, I wish I would have asked someone about the wisdom of some of my financial decisions before I made them. Hmm...It's truly remarkable to consider the impact on the trajectory of our lives that our asks and non-asks have had.

In our story for the day, James and John asked Jesus if they could have the seats of honor next to him in his Kingdom. Why not? Someone had to sit there right. They wanted to be the big deal or at least as close to the big deal as possible. Who knows, maybe some of the big deal might rub off on them. Jesus used their self-centered request to teach all the disciples about the upside down Kingdom of God. Bartimaeus just wanted to see. Apparently, his sight was the means to the end of being able to follow Jesus since that's exactly what he did when Jesus granted him his request. A home run ask for sure.

What story has our requests been telling these days? Identify your most recent ask and non-ask. Do they reveal a self-centered life? A careless life? A wise life? An other-focused life? A Jesus glorifying life? As you keep inventory of these requests and non-requests, patterns will emerge. Prayerfully evaluate these patterns. Jesus told Bartimaeus his request was rooted in faith. The Lord repeatedly affirmed these types of requests. Fascinating. His story makes me wonder how many blind men on the side of the road remained blind men on the side of the road because they chose not to ask Jesus for sight.

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