What Are You Trusting to Hold Your Life Together?

By Pastor John Erickson

When something feels unstable, my instinct is to start managing.

I replay the conversation. I run possible outcomes through my head. I try to solve tomorrow's problem before tomorrow gets here. Somewhere in the process I convince myself that if I can just think about it hard enough, I will finally feel secure.

I know I do this. Maybe you do too.

It is possible to believe in Jesus while spending a surprising amount of energy trying to create life without depending on him. That tension comes into focus when Jesus says, in John 10, that he is the gate for the sheep.

The conversation begins with a man who can finally see

In John 9, Jesus heals a man who was blind from birth. Instead of celebrating, the religious leaders interrogate the man, question his parents, and eventually throw him out.

Jesus finds him.

That sequence matters. John 10 does not begin as a detached lecture about sheep. Jesus is confronting leaders who claim spiritual authority while failing to care for the person God has restored.

The question is not simply who knows the rules. It is who is leading people toward life.

Jesus describes a shepherd who enters through the gate, calls his sheep by name, and leads them out. He contrasts that care with the actions of thieves and strangers. When his listeners do not understand, he makes the claim direct: he is the gate.

The way to the life he offers is through him.

More than a doorway in the distant past

Jesus speaks about salvation, going in and out, and finding pasture. It is a picture of care, provision, and freedom under a trustworthy shepherd.

We sometimes reduce that relationship to a single moment years ago. I made a decision. I walked through the door. Now I will manage the rest.

But the image invites continuing dependence.

Jesus is not a form we filled out before moving on to the business of life. He is the One in whom that life is found.

That matters on an ordinary Tuesday, when I am anxious, irritated, uncertain, or trying to protect my sense of worth. Those moments reveal where I instinctively go for security.

Do I turn toward him, or start climbing around him?

Respectable substitutes are still substitutes

Trying to find life elsewhere does not always look dramatic.

Sometimes it looks like needing everybody's approval. One encouraging comment lifts us up; one critical comment takes us apart. Other people become responsible for holding our identity together.

Sometimes it looks like distraction. We fill every quiet moment because we do not want to face what is happening inside. There is nothing inherently wrong with recreation, food, or a busy day. The issue is the job we ask those things to do.

Sometimes it even looks religious. I begin relying on how much I know, how consistently I perform, or how well I compare with somebody else.

Those can become ways of avoiding the vulnerability of saying, "Jesus, I need you."

This is an application of the passage, rather than a claim that every ordinary comfort is one of the thieves Jesus describes. His immediate confrontation concerns harmful spiritual leadership. But it raises a question for all of us: where am I being directed, and what am I trusting to give me life?

What does the thief steal?

John 10:10 is often quoted in discussions of spiritual warfare. The wider Bible certainly speaks about evil and the devil.

Here, though, we should keep the surrounding story in view. Jesus has just encountered religious authorities who mistreated a man he healed. He is exposing a way of leading that claims to represent God while driving people away from the One God sent.

That makes the warning uncomfortably relevant to church life.

A religious environment can be busy and impressive while leaving people afraid, exhausted, and dependent on human approval. A leader can use spiritual language to protect personal influence.

The answer is not to replace one controlling personality with another. It is to return to Jesus.

He offers life in abundance. That is not a guarantee of wealth, uninterrupted health, or a schedule free of trouble. It is life grounded in relationship with him, sustained by his care, and directed toward God's purposes.

Stop asking a substitute to be your savior

It is worth paying attention to what happens when pressure comes.

What do I reach for first? What do I believe I absolutely must control before I can be all right? Whose reaction determines whether I think I matter?

We can bring those questions to Jesus without turning them into another performance review.

Coming to him may include prayer, confession, a conversation with a trusted person, or accepting practical help. Depending on Christ is compatible with doing responsible work. It changes the foundation beneath that work.

I can plan without believing that my plan is what saves me. I can enjoy another person's encouragement without making it the source of my worth. I can face a hard feeling without immediately burying it under noise.

Jesus is not asking us to squeeze life out of something that cannot give it.

He is inviting us to himself.

So if your life feels like a structure you must hold upright with both hands, begin there. Tell him what you have been carrying. Ask what trusting him would look like in the next decision.

The gate is not another obstacle between you and life. It is the invitation into the care you have been trying to create on your own.