“I can do all things through him who strengthens me.” — Philippians 4:13 (ESV)
It is easy to be content when everything is set up just the way it was designed to be, but what happens when a wrench gets chucked your way? Are you still content? The wrench has a way of exposing things in our lives, but what we tend to do is just blame the wrench, rather than address the much deeper unresolved issues in our lives.
To be content is to thank Jesus for the wrench and to even embrace the wrench at some level. If things always went our way, what would we become? The word “sovereignty” means you get to call all the shots, you are in complete control, you run the show. We think this is the end goal, finally arriving at the address of contentment. But nothing could be further from the truth. You cannot find contentment in creation, only in the Creator!
Take a look at Philippians 4:13 (ESV): “I can do all things through him who strengthens me.” Context is critical in trying to grasp the meaning of any verse in the Bible, and for some reason this one gets misused more than most. The verse prior to this, Philippians 4:12 (ESV), reads, “I know how to be brought low, and I know how to abound. In any and every circumstance, I have learned the secret of facing plenty and hunger, abundance and need.”
What is Paul saying? He’s saying that circumstances have no bearing on his contentment, only Christ does.
— Brian Hommel, Arizona Diamondbacks chaplain
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