Holy Partakers Grasping Surrender to Jesus

"So then, my brothers in holiness who share the highest of all callings, I want you to think of the messenger and High Priest of the faith we hold, Christ Jesus." Hebrews 3:1

First things first, I think this first verse of this next chapter of Hebrews deserves a far more robust translation than it's given in any of the main versions of the NT (feel free to check for yourself!) because, really and truly, when fully heard in all its full meaning, it reads like a one-sentence guide to everything we need to do and focus on. So here we go:

"Therefore, holy brothers, partakers of the heavenly calling, observe well (meaning grasp) the Apostle and High Priest of our agreement (our vow, our surrender), Jesus."

As you start this morning, let me ask you: Have you personally accepted the holiness already purchased for you by the blood of the Cross; are you a partaker of the heavenly calling, a real bon vivant of what's yours there; have you watched, and tasted, and smelled, and grasped of the goodness of our Apostle and High Priest; has your "agreement" to all this moved past intellectual assent into the realm of vow, of absolute surrender to Jesus Himself?

Me, I love that word "surrender" as a synonym for what we think of as faith or belief. Because - have you not yourself found? - that oftentimes to cease to do is actually to begin to believe...