Bruce Larson often met with people who were struggling with the decision to surrender their lives to Christ. Many of them wrestled with the fear of letting go, unsure of what it meant to truly trust God.
When words alone weren’t enough, Larson would invite them to take a short walk with him. From his office in New York City, he would lead them down to Fifth Avenue, where they stood before the entrance of the RCA Building. There, in full view, was the imposing statue of Atlas—muscles taut, face strained, and body bent beneath the crushing weight of the world he carried on his shoulders.
“Look at him,” Larson would say. “That’s one way to live—trying to carry the world on your own shoulders. It’s exhausting, and even the strongest can barely manage it.”
Then he would invite his companion to cross the street with him. They would enter the quiet, holy space of Saint Patrick’s Cathedral. Behind the high altar, in a small shrine, stood a simple statue of the boy Jesus. In his hand—without strain, without effort—he held the whole world.
“There’s the other way,” Larson would whisper. “We can struggle like Atlas, trying to bear the world ourselves…or we can surrender and say, ‘Lord, I give You my world, the whole world.’”
The choice was clear. And in that moment, many came to see surrender not as loss, but as freedom—the freedom of letting Christ carry what we never could.
