There was a blind man sitting by the road, begging for alms. And Jesus was passing by with a whole crowd following him.

The blind man realized that the Nazarene was passing by and he began to shout and say, “Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me.”

Then Jesus called him and asked, “What do you want me to do for you?”

What a strange question! What does a blind man need? But really, Jesus wanted to teach this man to differentiate between the urgent and the transcendent.

For this blind man, the urgent thing was to ask for alms because that’s how he met his survival needs. When someone passed by, he asked for the urgent.

But he realized that the Savior was passing by. And it was time to ask for the transcendent. He went to Jesus and said, “Teacher, I want to regain my sight.”

And Jesus said to him, “Go in peace, your faith has saved you.” And immediately he regained his sight, and followed Jesus on the road.

Every morning, we will have to approach the Lord and answer the same question: “What do you want me to do for you?” The urgent has to do with the pressures of the day; the transcendent encompasses character, major challenges, and God’s affairs.