All Things Hold Together: Reflections on Colossians 1:16-17
- Jan 6
- 3 min read
“For by him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things were created through him and for him. And he is before all things, and in him all things hold together.”
Colossians 1:16-17 (ESV)
There’s a moment, usually late at night, when the world feels both impossibly vast and strangely small. Maybe you’re staring out a window, thinking about everything you can see and everything you can’t. Planets spinning, nations rising and falling, your own life with its mess and momentum. It’s easy to feel like things are slipping through your fingers.
And then you read something like Colossians 1:16-17: “In him all things hold together.” Four ordinary words, all things hold together, that, for two thousand years, have anchored anxious hearts. Paul isn’t just tossing out a poetic line here. He’s making a claim that, if true, changes everything: that Jesus Christ is the center, the source, and the sustainer of literally everything.
Created by Him
Paul starts big: “For by him all things were created.” Not just the “spiritual” stuff, or the “important” stuff, or things that fit neatly into a Sunday sermon. He says all things. Stars and black holes. DNA and mountain lions. Rulers and rebels. The visible and the invisible. The things you love and the things you can’t stand. All created by, and for Christ.
The echoes here go back to Genesis: “In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth” (Genesis 1:1). John picks it up too: “All things were made through him, and without him was not anything made that was made” (John 1:3). Jesus isn’t just part of the story, he’s the author. The world is his idea.
Sustained by Him
But Paul doesn’t stop at creation. “He is before all things, and in him all things hold together.” This isn’t just about how the universe began. It’s about how it keeps going. He suggests an active, ongoing work; the glue of existence, pulsing through every moment.
The writer of Hebrews uses the same language: “He upholds the universe by the word of his power” (Hebrews 1:3). This means the laws of physics, the structure of atoms, the beating of your heart, all of it persists because Christ wills it to. If he let go, everything would unravel.
What Does This Mean for Us?
It means your life isn’t an accident, and creation isn’t random. The same Christ who spoke galaxies into being is intimately involved in your daily grind. When things feel like they’re falling apart in the world, in your family, in your own mind. Colossians 1:16-17 is a reminder that you are held, not by your own strength, but by his.
And there’s a call here too. If all things were made “for him,” then everything; your work, your art, your relationships, your pain, can be lived for his purposes. “Whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God” (1 Corinthians 10:31).
All Things Means All Things
So next time you find yourself overwhelmed by the “all things” of life the big, the small, the beautiful, the broken remember: you’re not holding it all together. He is. And that’s the best news in the universe.
“The earth is the Lord’s and the fullness thereof, the world and those who dwell therein.” (Psalm 24:1)
