Jesus told him, “Go your way; your faith has saved you.” Immediately he received his sight and followed him on the way.
Mark 10:52

Jesus says to Bartimaeus, “go your way” — but instead, Bartimaeus becomes a follower of Jesus. He doesn’t get his needs met and leave; he sees that following Jesus is the only way to go.

When we are control freaks about our image, we follow the crowd instead of following Jesus. And following the crowd doesn’t make any sense. The crowd is fickle. The crowd doesn’t care about us and their influence is transitory. On the other hand, Jesus cares for us. And as we follow him, he helps us to see where we should go and the right decisions we should make. His love is eternal and stable.

Whenever you start getting worried about your image, pray what Bartimaeus prayed, “Jesus, son of David, have pity on me.” Ask Jesus to have pity on you so you can understand that how God sees you is so much more important than how others see you. The crowd sees the externals, but God sees your heart.