Hello, I'm Jeremy, and I want to welcome you to Walking With Christ. This is an expository-style devotional where we go verse-by-verse and chapter-by-chapter through Scripture, and we do it contextually, thoughtfully, and humbly. We seek not only to understand God's Word more, but also to apply it, and to let it shape how we live, think, and walk with Christ each day. Today, as we continue our study of Colossians, we'll be looking at chapter 1, verse 17, looking at how Christ holds everything together by His endless power. Again, that's Colossians 1, verse 17, and we're reading from the ESV. Paul writes there, and He, speaking of Christ, is before all things, and in Him all things hold together. We're in the middle of chapter 1 of Paul's letter to the church in Colossae, and we're in the middle of a multiverse discourse on the glory, majesty, and power of our Lord Jesus. As we saw in verses 15 and 16, Paul began this paragraph by stating that Jesus is the image of the invisible God, and that all things were created through him and for him. And now moving into verse 17, Paul tells us that Jesus is before all things. When I read this, I'm immediately drawn to John 8, 58, the famous verse where Jesus said, And then over to John 1, verse 1, when the apostle said of Christ, And the Word was with God, and the Word was God. Jesus' deity and pre-existence with the Father cannot be refuted, unless one is willing to deny the very words of our Lord, the writings of His apostles, and the inspiration of the Holy Spirit. Jesus was not just a man, and He was not just a prophet or a good teacher, but is God's one and only begotten, sovereign Son, and He has all the power and authority of His Father. You can reference Matthew 28 verse 18, John 17 verse 2, and Colossians 2 verse 9. Paul then says that in him all things hold together. The writer of Hebrews agreed when he wrote, he, speaking of Christ, upholds the universe by the word of his power. That's Hebrews 1 verse 3. If we study science, we are told that atoms, the building blocks of all matter in the universe, stay together by the balance of fundamental forces within them. Scientists try to explain this through the delicate and seemingly impossible equilibrium of protons, neutrons, and a thing called nuclear force. If you've not heard of that, that is said to be the strongest known fundamental force holding all protons and neutrons together in the nucleus, and here's a quote, despite the repulsive electromagnetic force between the positively charged protons. I know that's a lot of science talk, but here's the point. From a purely scientific point of view, it seems the entire universe could disintegrate at any given nanosecond if this nuclear force stopped working properly or became unbalanced. And yet somehow it stays perfectly stable and predictable, day after day and year after year. In fact, it is extremely difficult to break atoms apart. Godless science cannot truthfully explain how all of that is possible. However, when we consider the astonishing stability and consistency of even a single atom from a biblical perspective, we see that it is none other than Jesus Christ our Lord holding it together by the word of His power. He is the force that keeps the universe from flying apart. Our Lord Jesus is awesome and mightier than we could ever imagine. In life, we're faced with many uncertainties, and sometimes it feels like our own little universe is disintegrating right before us. Those of us who have gone through difficult trials may have tried super hard to keep our life together, only to realize that our efforts were futile. And that is because we don't have the power. We can't hold all things together. But Christ does. Our lesson for today is that in every difficult season and trial, we can find comfort knowing that Jesus Christ, our Lord, is holding together every atom in the universe, a number that is truly incalculable, and He's doing it by the simple word of His power. Therefore, we truly have nothing to worry about. So lay your troubles at His feet in prayer. Lay them there with thanksgiving and praise, because Jesus is worthy, and He will never fail you. I want to thank you for spending just a few minutes in God's Word with me today. I do hope you were blessed by it. As Paul wrote in Colossians 2 verse 6, Therefore, as you have received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in him. And I pray that the Lord strengthen you to follow him faithfully, step by step, as you keep walking with Christ. Have a blessed day.