Trusting in God
“I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.”
Philippians 4:13
Some professional athletes have used this verse for years as a mantra to achieve success in their particular sport. I think of Tim Tebow writing this citation under his eyes during football games or other athletes who quickly recite this verse right before their sporting event begins.
Yet, this verse didn’t originally address personal or athletic achievements. The letter to the Philippians was written by the Apostle Paul to early Christians in Philippi. As we know, Paul experienced all kinds of hardships and difficulties throughout his life. He was shipwrecked and lost at sea, he was beaten and nearly stoned to death, and he had to go without food and water for long periods of time. Most scholars believe that he wrote these words from his prison cell.
Yet, despite all the horrible things that happened to him, Paul continually turned to God for strength. He learned to place his complete faith and trust in God not only in good times, but especially in bad times. Through his hardships and difficulties, Paul learned one simple truth: no matter what life brings, he could do all things through Christ who strengthened him.
With everything that is happening in our world today, I imagine many of us are dealing with our fair share of hardships. We are still waiting for things to return to “normal” or at least a “new normal.” In times like these, if we, like Paul, turn to God and place our faith and trust in Him, we can go through anything knowing that Christ will always give us the strength to make it.
After all, as followers of Jesus we have a faith, hope and trust in God that promises to deliver us. The good news is neither death, nor life, nor fear, nor anxiety, nor pandemic, nor politics nor anything else in all creation will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord (based on Romans 8:38-39). So today, with God’s grace, may we remember, “We can do all things through Christ who strengthens us.”
