Hebrews 5:11-6:3

Sometimes, when you're reading the bible, you get the definite feeling that the author has someone in his mind when he's writing a particular passage... This is one of those times. The author's rebuke here comes through very harsh and very clear. "What are you doing?" he chastises in frustration. "You should be teaching others algebra by now, and yet you still can't add or subtract!"

sigh. I'm one of these people--I'm very slow to learn. I hate being that way! People tell me the right way to do something, or they'll tell me that I shouldn't do something because it's going to turn out badly. Do I listen? Of course not! I've got to go and find out for myself. I've learned a lot, and I've made all the mistakes to prove it. Wouldn't life be simpler if we all just listened the first time and believed people when they told us that some things were bad and we shouldn't do them?
Don't get me wrong, I haven't made the worst mistakes in my life. I could've made a lot more damaging mistakes... But I'll swear, I think I've probably made some of the most stupid mistakes!

But God's good, and He's been very patient with me. ;) He's taught me a lot. He's forgiven me a lot, and sometimes a lot more than I've been able to forgive myself.

But enough about me! This verse is about those poor saps like me that look at a verse and look at a verse and never pay attention to it. We live our lives as Christians and call ourselves Christians, and yet, at the end of the day, we can't remember a single thing we've actually done for Christ. This verse is about those of us that should be spending our time doing spiritual calculus, and yet we find that we can't even add up grace and salvation.
We've all been there before. We'll all be there again. This is part of being human. For me and for everybody, at some points in our lives, this verse is meant for us.

So in chapter 6, the author moves on to an exhortation.
I'm not sure I like the way this particular chapter in Hebrews is broken up. Whoever put in the chapters, God bless him, I think didn't stop to consider a daily bible reading plan when he ended chapter 5 here. I mean, I finish chapter 5 and the bible is telling me, "Jonathan! Come on, guy, you're being a loser! Look at what you've learned about being righteous and what you should've learned by now! Get with the program, buddy!" Then I move into chapter 6 and it says to me, "Come on, Jonathan! You can do better!"
I don't know about you, but I'd like to hear that last part along with the first. Otherwise, I'm saying to myself as I go to bed, "Geeze. God doesn't think much of me, does he?"

Right?

But it's not what the author is saying. He's not trying to make the reader feel stupid or to beat herself up for not studying, he's trying to convict us that we need to do better in the future. In saying that, he's telling us that we can do better!
God believes in you! He believes in me! He believes in our ability to understand the bible! If He didn't, then verse 1 wouldn't be here--the passage really would have ended with chapter 5 and verse 14.
But that's not where it ends, and that's not where we should end it. We look at the end of chapter 5, and we tell ourselves, "It's true, I am like a baby. I haven't learned everything that I should!" and it's true. But that realization should not lead me to say, "I've failed Righteousness 101, so I need to drop out and stop trying to be what I'm not."
God forbid!
The very next verse does not say, "Give up, you hypocrite;" the next verse says, "Because of this, we need to move on with our education! We need to do better! We need to learn the things we missed!"

Never, ever come away from the book of Hebrews thinking that you're a failure as a Christian. Look at some of the names in chapter 11: in verse 31, the prostitute Rahab. In verse 32, Gideon, Samson, Jephthah. These are not shining heroes of the Old Testament--look them up! Their stories make you laugh and say, "Well. God's the one that pulled that off!"
And yet, these are the heroes of faith in the book of Hebrews. These are the men and women that believed in God, and that's all they had going for them.

And this is the teaching about righteousness, this is distinguishing good from evil: we believe God, and put our faith in Him. We try to please Him in our lives. We try to give God the glory in our lives.
And we're not good enough or strong enough or important enough to succeed at any of that, and we know it, and God knows it. But we become mighty men and women of faith, we become heroes of the faith, because we believe in God and put our hope in Him.

That's what pleases God. That's how we live what we believe.