From the message preached on November 8, 2026
If you have been carrying your whole life on your shoulders, here is the honest answer: you are not the one holding it together, and you never were. In Colossians 1, the apostle Paul says that in Jesus all things hold together, which means letting go of control is not giving up; it is finally putting the weight where it belongs.
That weight sneaks up on us: a relationship we keep trying to fix, a life we keep managing so nothing goes wrong. We tell ourselves, "I'll figure this out; I'll make it happen," and we keep lifting.
That habit of figuring it out alone is exactly what Colossians 1 speaks into. Trusting God starts with seeing who Jesus is, then discovering what he holds, and finally receiving the life he offers in place of the one we keep managing.
What Does It Mean That Jesus Is the Image of the Invisible God?
Seeing who Jesus is begins with one striking line: "The Son is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation." Paul's first readers would have heard an echo of Genesis, where humanity is made in the image of God, giving every person dignity and worth.
That word image also had a sharper edge. The Greek word is icon, and the most familiar icon in daily life was the face of Caesar, the Roman emperor, stamped on the coins people carried. Carrying that coin meant pledging allegiance to a ruler whose promised peace was really a boot of oppression.
Against that coin, calling Jesus the image of the invisible God was a quiet act of defiance. Caesar glorified himself on silver, but God reveals himself in Jesus, through whom all things were created. If you want to know who God is, you do not look at your own father or the absence of one; you look at Jesus, who shows how someone can be merciful and just at the very same time.
Because Jesus is the image of the invisible God, we do not have to guess what it means to be image bearers. Today, read one story from the life of Jesus slowly and ask: if this is what God is like, what does that change about how I see him?
Surrendering to God When You Are Tired of Holding Up the Sky
Seeing Jesus clearly leads to the line many of us most need to hear: "He is before all things, and in him all things hold together" (Colossians 1:17). It is God who holds all things together; not your politics, not your successes, and not the careful ways you manage your life to avoid hardship. That one sentence is where surrendering to God begins.
Picture two images that face each other across the street. Outside Rockefeller Center stands a massive statue of Atlas, the mythological figure punished to hold up the skies for eternity, right where top lawyers and bankers sit in their offices day after day. Across the way, inside St. Patrick's Cathedral, is an image of a young Jesus holding the world in the palm of his hand.
One figure strains forever; the other holds it with ease. So where are you trying to hold up the skies right now, and what are you trying to fix that keeps bringing stress, fear, or worry down on your shoulders? God's answer is tender: "Child, son, daughter, I will hold this together for you."
That kind of holding shows up most in our relationships, where it is easy to overfunction. When we feel responsible for others, we fix, rescue, control, carry their feelings, and stop listening, until we end up tired and anxious. If you have been on the receiving end, you know how it feels when someone's caring really means they want you to live the life they planned for you.
Surrendering to God does not mean you stop moving toward the people you love; you just stop carrying the weight of fixing everything. Today, as a small step in surrendering to God, name one person you have been responsible for rather than responsible to, and in your next conversation with them, listen first.
God Holds All Things Together, So You Do Not Have To
The reason you do not have to carry it all runs deeper than a mindset. Colossians 1 says God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in Jesus, and through him to reconcile to himself all things "by making peace through his blood, shed on the cross." People once alienated from God are now presented holy in his sight, without blemish and free from accusation.
Notice that nothing in those verses depends on what you do. Our rightness with God is because Jesus made it right, and our goodness rests on God being good first. This is how God holds all things together: not through your success or ability, but through the love and mercy of Jesus.
Receiving that love exposes how often we live by Jesus plus something else: Jesus and my politics, Jesus and my comfort, Jesus and my way of being right. Because God holds all things together, he can be trusted with the whole list, from who we date to how we spend our money. Trusting God with all of it is possible because Jesus is not asking you to figure it out first; he already has.
That is why he offers his hand and says, "Come and follow me," knowing some things will fall away as we open ourselves to release them. You only get one life, and it is ticking by the second, so the invitation is to say, "God, you are in control. I trust you with my life."
Today, try a simple prayer of relinquishment: open your palms and name the sky you have been holding. Then pray, "God, I don't have control of this; you are the one who's holding all things together," and let the truth that God holds all things together settle before you pick anything back up.
What Colossians 1 Teaches About Letting Go of Control
That prayer of open hands sits at the heart of Colossians 1, which builds toward it in three movements.
1. Jesus Shows Us Who God Is
What Paul wrote: The Son is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation.
Why it matters: You do not have to guess what God is like; you can look at Jesus.
2. Jesus Holds All Things Together
What Paul wrote: He is before all things, and in him all things hold together.
Why it matters: The weight you are carrying was never yours to hold alone.
3. Jesus Reconciles Us to God
What Paul wrote: Through the cross, God reconciled people who were once alienated from him.
Why it matters: Your standing with God rests on what Jesus did, not on your performance.
Those movements also reshape how we love people. Letting go of control means being responsible to others rather than for them, which looks like:
Showing empathy and offering encouragement
Sharing honestly and confronting when it is needed
Staying sensitive and actually listening
Noticing the person and their feelings, not just the problem
Trusting God and letting go of the outcome
Setting Down the Weight Together in Fresno
Letting go of control is easier with people around you, especially if you are tired of holding up the sky or unsure what faith has to say about the weight you carry. Midtown Vineyard Church is a community for people at every stage of faith (curious, skeptical, or returning), and our new home sits in the middle of the Fresno High neighborhood, across from the historic Fresno High School. Whether you live in the Tower District, Fig Garden, or Downtown Fresno, you are welcome to come as you are, questions and all.
Trusting God With the One Life You Have
Wherever you are starting from, the invitation of Colossians 1 is the same: Jesus shows us who God is, holds together what we cannot, and has already made us right with God through the cross. Trusting God is not losing; it is letting God be God. So we open our hands and place our family, our friends, and our future into his loving care, asking him to care for them "with a care I cannot give."
When you are ready to see what Midtown is like, our I'm New page walks you through what to expect, so start here.
Come find a gathering or event where you can meet people walking this same road and join us here.
Frequently Asked Questions
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Colossians 1:17 says Jesus "is before all things, and in him all things hold together." That means it is God who holds your life together, not your successes, your politics, or your efforts to avoid hardship. When things fall apart, you can stop trying to hold up the sky and let him carry what you never could.
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Start by naming what is weighing on you; the stress, fear, or worry you have been carrying alone. Then remember the image of a young Jesus holding the world in his hand, and hear his invitation: "I will hold this together for you." Trust grows as you keep handing those things back to him, one at a time.
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Letting go often begins with a simple prayer of relinquishment, said with open palms: "God, I don't have control of this; you are the one who's holding all things together." It also means noticing where you live by "Jesus plus" something else, like your comfort, success, or need to be right. As you release those things, some of them will fall away.
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When you feel responsible for others, you tend to fix, rescue, control, and carry their feelings, which leaves you tired and anxious. When you feel responsible to others, you show empathy, encourage, share honestly, confront when needed, and listen. You still move toward people, but you trust God with the outcome.
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In Paul's day, the image people carried most was Caesar's face on their coins, a sign of allegiance to a ruler who brought "peace" through oppression. Calling Jesus the image of the invisible God says the opposite: if you want to know who God is, look at Jesus. In him, we see how God can be both merciful and just at the same time.
