May 30: Called to be pioneers

For indeed he who makes holy and those being made holy all have the same origin, and so he is not ashamed to call them brothers and sisters.  (Hebrews 2:11  NET)

The first phrase of this promise says that we have the same origin as Jesus. This can be understood in two ways: Jesus was fully God and fully man while He was on earth. Though He was God, He left behind His power and glory when He became a man, and lived exactly like any one of us, except that He was sinless. In this way, we have the same origins. The Lord Jesus lived on earth as a human, just like us. But the other meaning of this phrase is that Jesus is God (no less and no more than God the Father and the Spirit) and each of us has been made in the image of God. Though we are flesh and blood and have many failures and weaknesses, we have godly qualities that have the ability to utterly transform our lives if we use them.

Today’s promise continues… Jesus is NOT ashamed to call us brothers and sisters. When we grab a hold of faith and surrender our lives to Him, we become a part of God’s family. No matter where we’ve come from, or what we’ve done, no matter what the world thinks or what it says about us, God welcomes us into His family. Jesus calls us His brothers and sisters. Few, if any of us, will ever have the honor to visit the White House as the President’s guest, and sleep in the Lincoln bedroom. Few have had the opportunity to study at the best schools or get prestigious degrees that cause us to be acknowledged by others.  Yet all of us can become brothers and sisters of Jesus. The poor and uneducated will be raised up to positions of honor, and the rich and highly educated will have to humble themselves and find fulfillment in God’s honor and not the world’s.

In the verse leading up to this promise, Jesus is referred to as a “pioneer”. This Greek word can be translated as "prince,” “captain,” or “leader.” But the word communicates more, it also means a person who does what has never been done before, who breaks new ground… a trailblazer or pioneer. This word is used 35 times in the Greek Old Testament and 4 times in the New, and always in relation to the Lord Jesus Christ.  Because of that, it’s logical to say that we are called to be pioneers like Him.  By faith we need to do what no one has ever had the courage to do before. Because our origins are the same as the Lord Jesus’, we should be spiritually audacious like Him, and determine great things for the glory of God. 

Let’s be the first, the pioneers, the ones who lead the way.