He is before all things, and in him all things hold together.
Colossians 1:17 NIVUK
I'll never forget the conversation I once had with an American pastor. He had not long put his van through its annual checkup in the country where he lived (I won't say where). He'd driven it into the mechanic's yard, confident that everything was fine. Once the mechanic had carried out his checks, he said to the American pastor, "Your vehicle is in good shape. However, the left front headlight isn't straight. But if you give me $20, it will become straight."
And I always thought bribery made things crooked...
Many of us treat God like the car mechanic of our lives. We might go to him when something is wrong or maybe once a year to assuage our guilt at having ignored him, but most of the time we pay him no attention at all. And it doesn't matter what He does for us. Provided everything in our life is okay, God is not at all important to us.
Or we could think of it another way. Before Covid-19, we loved cruising. On every cruise ship there are hundreds of crew members, many of whom are unseen, who make the cruise happen. My wife is Filipino and I speak Romanian, so we go out of our way to be friendly to crew members. After all, they are away from home for nine or ten months at a time and many of them are working incredibly hard to put food on the table and put family through education or pay medical bills. They deserve our profound respect.
But how many of us show respect and gratitude for all God does for us?
As the writer to the Hebrews says:
In the past God spoke to our ancestors through the prophets at many times and in various ways, but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed heir of all things, and through whom also he made the universe. The Son is the radiance of God’s glory and the exact representation of his being, sustaining all things by his powerful word. After he had provided purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty in heaven.
Hebrews 1:1-3 NIVUK
Do you see this? Mechanics, crew members, medical staff, engineers, scientists, researchers, truck and transportation drivers, pilots, couriers, baggage handlers, postal workers, farmers... all those on whom our lifestyles depend without question... all of them work and work hard to keep us going. But Jesus sustains all things 'by His powerful word'. He does not work, He speaks. He speaks and things happen.
This is our God. Not only did He speak the world into being (Genesis 1), He speaks and the world is sustained.
Listen to these words from the Psalms:
All creatures look to you to give them their food at the proper time. When you give it to them, they gather it up; when you open your hand, they are satisfied with good things. When you hide your face, they are terrified; when you take away their breath, they die and return to the dust. When you send your Spirit, they are created, and you renew the face of the ground. May the glory of the Lord endure for ever; may the Lord rejoice in his works – he who looks at the earth, and it trembles, who touches the mountains, and they smoke.
Psalms 104:27-32 NIVUK
God's sustaining power is writ large in the Bible, from Genesis to Revelation, and nowhere more than here:
‘Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothes? Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? Can any one of you by worrying add a single hour to your life? ‘And why do you worry about clothes? See how the flowers of the field grow. They do not labour or spin. Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendour was dressed like one of these. If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you – you of little faith? So do not worry, saying, “What shall we eat?” or “What shall we drink?” or “What shall we wear?” For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.
Matthew 6:25-34 NIVUK
Jesus is the One who holds all things together. He is the Sustainer.
But the Bible goes even further than that. You see, there is a purpose and a direction in the way He sustains. He isn't just doing it for the sake of it. No, He is doing it for His glory and for our good.
How can we know this?
The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of his hands. Day after day they pour forth speech; night after night they reveal knowledge.
Psalms 19:1-2 NIVUK
We have the perfect conditions for life on earth. We are just the right distance from the sun. The earth spins at just the right speed. The earth is tilted at just the right angle. We have just the right mixture of hydrogen and oxygen in our atmosphere. Change any of these variables even slightly and it would be catastrophic for life on this planet.
How do you think that came about? And how do you think it stays that way? Blind chance? A cosmic fluke? A random happenstance?
What a load of baloney!
There are much shorter odds for building a tower of cards by throwing them in the air, or producing the Mona Lisa by throwing paint at a wall. It is just impossible.
There must be intelligence behind it all. Creation itself, and the fact that it continues to exist, is just too elegant and wonderful and beautiful for anything else to be true.
The Bible exceeds that.
And for us to live a fearless, hopeful life, that intelligence should at least benign, or perhaps benevolent.
The Bible exceeds that.
The Bible states that there is not just an intelligence that created and maintains the universe. No, there is also a heart. And that heart is a heart of love that beats for you.
Listen to these words, written by a suffering, persecuted first century Christian:
And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.
Romans 8:28 NIVUK
You see, the loving heart and intelligence that set this world in motion and maintains it even now loves you and works everything in your life - good times and bad - for your ultimate good. That self same omnipotent being is intimately involved in the minutest details of your life. As King David wrote:
You have searched me, Lord, and you know me. You know when I sit and when I rise; you perceive my thoughts from afar. You discern my going out and my lying down; you are familiar with all my ways. Before a word is on my tongue you, Lord, know it completely. For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother’s womb. I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well. My frame was not hidden from you when I was made in the secret place, when I was woven together in the depths of the earth. Your eyes saw my unformed body; all the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be.
Psalms 139:1-4, 13-16 NIVUK
Every single breath you take is a gift from the God who loves you and wants the best for you, in every situation.
Don't you think He deserves your attention?
We discovered that belief in Jesus as our creator gives our life a sense of meaning, purpose and direction. Believing that Jesus is our sustainer also gives us a sense of resilience. We can make it through any hardship because we trust in Jesus to sustain us through it.
Still not sure? What about these words:
‘Listen to me, you descendants of Jacob, all the remnant of the people of Israel, you whom I have upheld since your birth, and have carried since you were born. Even to your old age and grey hairs I am he, I am he who will sustain you. I have made you and I will carry you; I will sustain you and I will rescue you.
Isaiah 46:3-4 NIVUK
Cast your cares on the Lord and he will sustain you; he will never let the righteous be shaken.
Psalms 55:22 NIVUK
The Lord makes firm the steps of the one who delights in him; though he may stumble, he will not fall, for the Lord upholds him with his hand.
Psalms 37:23-24 NIVUK
So do not fear, for I am with you; do not be dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you; I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.
Isaiah 41:10 NIVUK
Understand this: since it is Jesus who holds all things together, it is also Jesus who holds your life together. If you step away from him and try to live your life your way, by your rules, on your terms, then you have no-one but yourself to blame when it falls apart.
There is an inevitable and uncomfortable truth here. And it is a truth that our 'woke' post-modern world does not like to hear. That truth is this: how you live matters. We don't get to live how we want, free from consequences or results. We can't encourage other people to live and love however they want because it's not all the same. Jesus did not take the time to hand us rules and advice on how to live our lives for us to set it aside and live our own way and to do it without consequence.
Jesus designed this world to be a universe of cause and effect. The reason why He gave us rules to live by is so that we wouldn't be the cause of negative effects on us, our families and the people around us. He sustains it, but He has allowed us to make our own choices, and face the inevitable consequences if we choose wrongly.
The Bible states clearly that Jesus is both the Creator and Sustainer of all things. He built everything and He knows how it works.
It makes zero sense to turn our back on Him and live life our way. Who are we to claim that we know better?
So Jesus is our Creator and Sustainer, and this provides us with a sense of our origin, of who we are, of our meaning and purpose and direction, but also provides us with our moral framework and sense of resiliency and inner strength.
We also see that JESUS IS OUR RULER.
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