I Can Do All Things...?

We've all heard it. "I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me." This famous verse comes from Philippians 4:13. The older I get, I don't always remember if I've had a revelation before and it's being highlighted again or if it may be the first time I put the dots together. But at any rate, I was moved this week with a new/renewed perspective.

Let's face it... I can't do all things. Even when Christ is giving me strength. Sometimes that jar is just too tough for me to open and I certainly won't be bench pressing a Honda anytime soon. Yes, I can speak to that mountain and command it to move into the sea with just a mustard seed of faith, but this isn't a question of my faith. This is about contentment.

Huh?

Oh, yes. All things in context. Let's go back to verses 11b and 12. "...for I have learned to be content with whatever I have. I know what it is to have little, and I know what it is to have plenty. In any and all circumstances I have learned the secret of being well-fed and of going hungry, of having plenty and of being in need. I can do all things through Him Who strengthens me."

Oh, hello.

It's interesting that Paul talks about his ability to do all things within the same breath as he's learned to be content in all things. He can DO when he knows who to BE. (It just always comes back to that for me. Doing vs. Being.) This word do in the original text is the Greek word ischyō (Strongs G2480). It means: can, be able, avail, prevail, be whole, can do, or may. To be strong (in body or health), to have power (for extraordinary deeds), to be a force, to be serviceable, to be able.

Yes, please.

Contentment is the key here. When we are content, we are able to handle whatever comes our way. We aren't striving for some unneccessary thing. When we are content, we are serviceable and durable for any circumstance we face. When we are content, we have gratitude and as one of my favorite quotes says, "Gratitude unlocks the fullness of life. It turns what we have into enough, and more. It turns denial into acceptance, chaos into order, confusion to clarity. It can turn a meal into a feast, a house into a home, a stranger into a friend. Gratitude makes sense of our past, brings peace for today and creates a vision for tomorrow." Melody Beattie. Good stuff.

That's it, really. Short and sweet. We can't do all things until our perspective understands and our character decrees contentment... the secret, as Paul says, in all things.