1So, my dear Christian friends, companions in following this call to the heights, take a good hard look at Jesus. He's the centerpiece of everything we believe,
2faithful in everything God gave him to do. Moses was also faithful,
3but Jesus gets far more honor. A builder is more valuable than a building any day.
4Every house has a builder, but the Builder behind them all is God.
5Moses did a good job in God's house, but it was all servant work, getting things ready for what was to come.
6Christ as Son is in charge of the house.
7That's why the Holy Spirit says, Today, please listen;
8don't turn a deaf ear as in "the bitter uprising," that time of wilderness testing!
9Even though they watched me at work for forty years, your ancestors refused to let me do it my way; over and over they tried my patience.
10And I was provoked, oh, so provoked! I said, "They'll never keep their minds on God; they refuse to walk down my road."
11Exasperated, I vowed, "They'll never get where they're going, never be able to sit down and rest."
12So watch your step, friends. Make sure there's no evil unbelief lying around that will trip you up and throw you off course, diverting you from the living God.
13For as long as it's still God's Today, keep each other on your toes so sin doesn't slow down your reflexes.
14If we can only keep our grip on the sure thing we started out with, we're in this with Christ for the long haul.
15These words keep ringing in our ears: Today, please listen; don't turn a deaf ear as in the bitter uprising.
16For who were the people who turned a deaf ear? Weren't they the very ones Moses led out of Egypt?
17And who was God provoked with for forty years? Wasn't it those who turned a deaf ear and ended up corpses in the wilderness?
18And when he swore that they'd never get where they were going, wasn't he talking to the ones who turned a deaf ear?
19They never got there because they never listened, never believed.