Upholder of All

Today’s focus on the Lord will lighten our burdens:  He is the Upholder of all things!  Back at the beginning of our journey, we considered the truth that Jesus is the Bearer of sin.  The freedom in that is the hope of our souls.  Contemplating Christ as the Upholder of All frees us to go through life unhindered by weights that hold us captive.  Holding onto burdens God never intended for us to carry keeps us from His glorious plans and purposes.

The old saying that ‘God never gives us more than we can bear’ is true only if we allow Him to be the One who carries us through the hardships of life.  Sometimes the consequences of living in a sin-wrecked world deliver greater heartache than even the strongest soul can take.  Hebrews 1:3 tells us that Christ upholds all things by the power of His Word.  Jesus is the Word in flesh.  The great truths of scripture walked the earth in the life of Christ; the great truths of scripture conquered death and restored the hope of life to mankind.  Only the Word of God has power to bear all that this world delivers.

Our human limits are a blessing!  Until we reach the end of ourselves, we do not even recognize the need for Christ’s unlimited ability to bear our burdens.  The New Living Translation renders Proverbs 24:10 as “If you fail under pressure, your strength is too small.”  Praise God that the pressures of life make it very clear to us that our strength is too small!  God’s Word consistently records the limits and failings of Bible greats.  It is in our humble acceptance of limits that we are of the most use to God.  Self-sufficient saints discourage seekers.  Do-it-yourself Christianity--pull yourself up by the bootstraps theology--lacks the resilience needed to accomplish eternal good.  Many things are too hard for us.  The key to praising God in all things is realizing that nothing is too hard for Him!

Indeed, we can do all things--but only in Christ Jesus!  The Psalmist describes Israel’s deliverance in Egypt as the Lord removing their shoulder from its burden.  Is there a burden God wants to remove your shoulder from?  Faith allows us to step aside and let Christ be our Upholder.  The weakness that moves us into partnership with Christ becomes divine strength that brings the glory of God to the world. 

Finally, we are to remember that Christ bears not only our sins and burdens; our eternal souls are in His care.  The Upholder of All secures our souls.  Our very life is in Christ—who sits at the righteous right hand of the Father!  Our journey through this life rests in the One created, redeemed and sustains all.  The security of that removes all weights!  We can cast all of our cares on Him—throwing off the weights that entangle—to bring His light into the world that God loves!