STEEMCHURCH | I can do everything in Christ that strengthens me (Great verse)
imagen sourceConsider one of the best known and most cited verses in the New Testament, one of the most popular verses in our evangelical culture today. I mean Philippians 4:13:
I can do everything in Christ that strengthens me
This verse has been printed on posters, t-shirts and murals on the wall. A quick search on the Internet reveals that you can buy key chains, rings, buttons, t-shirts, stickers, postcards, bracelets, handbags, and other trinkets (Christianized) with the words of this verse stamped, embroidered or engraved on them.
The irony is that, by taking this verse out of context, people have come to assign it a strange and incorrect meaning, completely contrary to what it really means. To such an extent they have come to distort their meaning, which has become a slogan of personal improvement and a slogan of ambition and achievements. For many, this verse has become a kind of motto to motivate material prosperity, career advancement and success.
But its true meaning has nothing to do with this.
We must understand this verse
If we read Philippians 4:13 in isolation, without looking at their context, it is possible to understand why so many people take it as a self-improvement slogan or as a blank check that promises any wish.
Out of context, "everything I can" could be taken as a license to achieve anything we want, from winning a football game, losing weight, to getting a new job. Out of context it can be taken as a spiritual inspiration to some personal desire or ambition.
But in context, Philippians 4:13 is a verse that talks about contentment, not dreams come true or goals achieved. It is about being happy, satisfied and faithful even in the harshest situations in life.
This verse is not about winning the football game, it is about how to respond when you lose the football game, or is injured during the season. It's not about getting that new job, that new house or that new suit; it's about finding satisfaction in the work already done, in the house you already own and in the clothes that already hang in your closet.
It is not about the magic words to change your circumstances, rather, it is about trusting in the power of God to be happy in the midst of circumstances that you can not change.
Consider for a moment the context of Philippians 4:13. Paul writes to the believers in Philippi:
I greatly rejoiced in the Lord that at last you have revived your care of me; of which you were also solicitous, but you lacked the opportunity.
I do not say it because I have shortages, because I have learned to be content, whatever my situation may be.
I know how to live humbly, and I know how to have abundance; In everything and for everything I am taught, both to be satiated and to be hungry, so that I may have plenty as well as to suffer need.
I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.
When the apostle says: "I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me", he is talking about contentment. He had learned to depend on Christ and be cheerful no matter what was happening. This is what we must learn from this verse, and what we are called to imitate from Paul. For that same reason he writes in verse 9:
9 What you have learned and received and heard and seen in me, do this; and the God of peace will be with you.
imagen source
If we take "Everything I can in Christ that strengthens me" out of context, we fail to understand that those words do not speak about personal improvement, but about joy and satisfaction in the Lord. This is the example that Paul exhorts the believers to follow, because the attitude that he possessed must characterize us as well.
God is our strenght! thanks for sharing. God bless
Amen thank you very much, yes with God everything without nothing! @iang1