Matthew Costner

What a week. It has been a little different than planned, but it has been good. I’ve been super busy, but that’s because I’ve made myself busy. As the week has continued I have had ups and downs, but the real eye opener came on Wednesday night. This was the night my roommates and I had a “talk.”

I knew it was coming though. I had told my best friend, Alyson, earlier that day that I had been hiding in my room for a while so I knew it was time for me and my roommates to sit and spend some time together. I like seeing them everyday and hanging out with them from time to time, but I never get excited for having to get vulnerable. That’s what we do in these “talk” times – they confront me on some of the junk in my life; they love me despite it.

See the truth for me is that I’m not good at being authentic and vulnerable. I want to be, but I’m not. Taking the steps to get to know myself better is hard, even painful. Yet going deep in my life is necessary if I ever want to be the kind of person I am meant to be.

I say all that to set up the next section in Mark. Anyway, here in Mark 3:7-12, Jesus is running from a ton of people from all over the country. They have caught up with Jesus and want to make Him King. They needed someone to free them from Roman control, and they thought that Jesus was that person. After all, tons of people had been talking about this man that was healing and performing miracles. In their eyes, the next miracle Jesus should perform was their liberation.

I mean, the Old Testament talked about someone coming and “saving” the people so this was a great time for Jesus to come and “save” if He truly was the one Moses had prophesied about. The only “saving” they understood was liberation – just like when Moses and Aaron freed the Egyptians from Pharaoh. Since this was their idea of “saving” they thought that the Messiah would be a political and military leader who would always protect them from harm. In this case it was freeing them from Rome’s cruelty.

I think this may be why Jesus ran from the people. He wasn’t there to establish a Kingdom with walls (like a military fort); He was there to establish a spiritual Kingdom. Therefore, Jesus didn’t want the people to go around proclaiming that He was some miracle worker that would deliver the people from their government. He wanted the people to know He was there to deliver them from everything keeping them from God! In other words, Jesus didn’t come to overthrow governments but to overthrow all the sin in our hearts.

You know, looking inward is hard because when we are honest with ourselves, we see sin. And sin hurts! But when we ask Jesus into our lives, He invades our heart and begins wiping the sin away so that all we see is Him. But we have to let Him. He simply won’t do it without our permission. You may see sin at first, but keep looking and you will see Jesus.

Today, I am praising the Lord that as I continue to walk with my roommates, my friends, and many of you, and as I continue to look into my heart, I will see my sin so I can continue to confess it and let Jesus deliver me from it. In doing so, I will begin to see less of my mistakes and more of Jesus. I pray you will begin this same process. Doing so leads to ultimate deliverance.