He says, "I'll neither leave you nor let you go" (Heb. 13:5b). He also says "I will uphold you with My righteous right hand" (Is. 41:10b). Thus, we don't have to worry about holding on to Him. He's holding on to us. If we're confused, He'll bring us to see truth. If we slip, He'll bring us back up and get us going again.
We don't have to worry about keeping ourselves from sin or stopping sinning as if it's all up to us to do that - that's His job. We don't even have to think it's all up to us even to have faith in order to keep things going right - HE is faithful in us and is always with us to bring things to work out rightly.
There is something underneath us that holds us up - underneath are the everlasting arms of Christ! The Life of Christ upholds us! He is self-sustaining, self-maintaining Life. We're IN that Life and it's IN us. Thus we're sustained by that Life.
And the Life is a Presence - it's the beautiful Holy Spirit in us, the very Spirit of Christ! We're held by a PERSON! A PERSON is fighting for us, keeping us, protecting us, embracing us, and carrying us in His arms. That's because underneath it all, underneath our failures and successes, our work and our giving up, our faith and our doubt - is grace. The Spirit carries us, God's born-again children, no matter what.
At every turn we can count on the Spirit within us to "cause us to walk in His ways" (Ez. 36:27). Thus in every way we are kept by Him (Jude 1)! For He is our Keeper. He is the Shepherd and Guardian of our souls (1 Pet. 2:25). We don't have to keep ourselves believing, doing, or overcoming. He'll do it. And He'll keep doing it. He who began a good work in us will complete it (Phil. 1:6).
He IS working. He IS faithful. He IS keeping us. He IS holding on to us.
We can respond to these facts with thankfulness and relief, relaxing confidently because of God's work. The Christian life is a life of rest, not of striving. We can be at rest because we don't have to hold on. He is holding on to us and won't let go.
Kept. Held. Safe. Forever. Grace!
With love to all,
