Do you ever feel like the weight of the world rests on your shoulders? All too often, we shoulder the weight of much more responsibility than God ever intended us to shoulder.

To illustrate, Pastor Deron Spoo shares the image of the statute of Atlas which stands outside St. Patrick’s cathedral. Atlas stands shouldering the weight of the world.

Deron says that’s the way most of us live. We shoulder the weight of the entire world, but we don’t have too. Acknowledging God as creator is a simple and sure way to remove the weight of stress in our lives.

In contrast, if you go inside of St. Patrick’s cathedral behind the altar, there’s a statute of the boy Jesus and He’s holding the world in one cupped hand with absolute ease.

“That’s another way to live. We can carry it on our shoulders or we can give it to Jesus and let Him carry it in His hands. We don’t have to live with the world on our shoulders. Instead, we can give our entire world to Jesus and He can hold us and our world in His hands.”

How can we let God carry the world for us?

Deron says that one of the ways we can let God shoulder the weight for us is by seeing even our fears and struggles as positives.

“I even see my fear as an advantage. If I didn’t have that flaw of being fearful, I think I would become overconfident and prideful. Even in my fears, I’ve got a daily opportunity to trust God. Instead of beating myself up and wondering why I’m not more brave and courageous I can say, you know what, my times are in His hands, I’ve got to depend on God today if I’m going to make it. Isn’t it like God that even our flaws give us opportunities to rely on His faithfulness.”

Learning to trust God with the weight of our lives takes time. However, God is willing and waiting to take the weight off of our shoulders.


Deron Spoo is the lead pastor of First Baptist Church in Tulsa, Oklahoma. Since he became pastor in 2000, Deron has helped First Tulsa transition from simply being a downtown church to becoming a regional church committed to urban ministry.

Key Scripture: Psalm 31:14-15

Featured Songs: Oh, My Soul – Casting Crowns; I Have This Hope – Tenth Ave North; Chain Breaker – Zach Williams

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