It is all about faith.  Faith in what God wants to do for us.  Assurance in what God will do for us, once faith is applied.

In Mark 10, we see several examples:

When Jesus welcomed little children that some wanted to hold back so as not to bother Him, Jesus corrected them and explained that they were the example for all of us in how to come to Him:  unafraid, unquestioning, ready to believe He was the giver of good things.  Like children, we must come ready to receive.  This is the kind of faith God desires.

When Jesus encountered the man of great wealth, and said to him to leave all that he had behind and follow Him, it was again about faith.  The man went away sad because he was unable to part with what he had.  He misunderstood God.  God does not delight in taking good things from us; He delights in giving better.  When we trust God with all we have, He restores and pours out even more.  In this teaching (verse 30), Jesus explained he would repay 100 times over to those who exchanged faith in themselves and the world, for faith in Him.

Then there was blind Bartimaeus who may have given the clearest lesson.  When the blind beggar heard that Jesus was nearby, he shouted to Jesus to have mercy on him.  Though the crowd sought to silence Bartimaeus, he would not be silenced.  He had decided in his own heart who this man called Jesus was.  He was the long-awaited Messiah, the One with the power to save and heal.  This was his chance to have his blind eyes opened and he wasn’t going to miss out:  “Rabbi, I want to see.”  And what did Jesus say?  “Go,” said Jesus, “your faith has healed you” (verse 52).  Immediately, blindness fell away and vision took its place; he arose and followed Jesus.

We must be convicted in our own hearts about Jesus and what He wants to do for us. When we fail to trust in Him, we too are blind.  It is a blindness of heart and mind to the One who loves us and waits to bless His children.  He asks but one thing in exchange: our faith.

It truly is all about faith.

“And without faith it is impossible to please God because anyone who comes to Him must believe that He exists and that He rewards those who earnestly seek Him

(Hebrews 11:6 NIV).”