my hope is built on nothing less

Since I am already 2 hours past my bedtime (which seems to elude me nearly every evening) I will write. Here is the summation of my theology (always a good subject to think on when you are preparing to retire for the night, "for if I die before I wake I pray the Lord my soul to take," as the child's bedtime lullaby goes): not that I loved Christ, but that Christ loved me. I do want to love Him, and try with all my might, but there are days that I don't or days that I am bound by struggles. One monotone band one put it: "And some days I don't love You at all." I hate to say it, but when the deep cries out to deep, my soul must say, "Yes, Lord, You know this about me, because you know me completely." I usually don't add the part about "being dust," because to tell you the truth I do not often feel like dust (probably because I have never attributed feelings to dust.) Anyway, the reason for being up so late is that I have been working on a homework assignment to reveal the innards of Colossians. Tonight was Colossians 2:6-15. It begins by giving us a command: "walk." It even outlines what a healthy life would look like. We are the subject (to use grammatical terms) or the doers of faith, with Christ as our object (the one our faith is being done too, to put it in a funny way). And many Christians carry on in that with that same mentality, like workers standing outside a day-by-day labor office who never expect to be permanently hired. Once we received our marching orders we take it from there. The next paragraph is when we see behind the scenes, much like a child catching the tooth-fairy that looks strangely like mother in her nightgown. The work is Christ's. He is our hero. In one paragraph it uses the precise wording "in Him" and "with Him" 8 times. Oh Christian, understand your salvation. You miss out if you see yourself as the founder and finisher of your faith (Heb.12). The climax of this section is the final act of Christ nailing our sins to the cross. When you see it there is a wave of nostalgia. Your mind brightens to the fact that it really was Him all along. Think of a child peeping through a slightly cracked door to to watch their father caringly prepare the fire on Christmas morning. The thought should enter our minds, "Oh how I have been cared for! I have taken for granted this love. When I just now looked I saw that He was nailing my sins to the tree. All this while I thought that I was the one doing the willing and the working, but then I saw Him there. He did not consult me, but took them there to the cross. He took them by Himself. I would have never thought to ask Him, but He did it anyway. What can I do know? I feel like all has been done for me." What can you do Christian? Thank Him. Open your heart wide to Him and let his unexpected love have access to every part. Abide in Him. While you were distracted by doing it yourself, abiding was all He ever wanted.

There it is! Goodnight.