Philippians 4:13 is probably one of the most quoted verses in the Bible. I mean, is there any Christian living that hasn’t, at least a time or two, needed to lean on its proclamation? Come nose to nose with any monstrous challenge and the verse becomes not only your leaning post, but also, the sling shot thrusting you, in confidence, to slay the dragon. However, what if it’s not a beast but a tiny bug that needs to be overcome? Does this, any less, need the power of “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me”?
Let’s think about this. Automatic hope and strength pours forth when we rest on Philippians 4:13. Armed with Christ’s might we are capable of accomplishing any, and every, thing. None the less, if you are like me, the truth is you’ve slanted the meaning of this verse to apply to huge circumstances that seem overwhelming and beyond our personal attainment. Thus, we let God sustain us and empower us to conquer that which we alone cannot overpower.
This week, God (probably frustrated with me) stopped cold my dreaming big and re-sized my understanding of Philippians 4:13. In essence, our Heavenly Father informed me that nowhere in the Bible, or anywhere else for that matter, does He say Christ’s strength is available, or needed, for only major, gigantic needs. On the contrary, often, those little pebbles tripping us up in life are in dire need of Christ’s strength, too. Problem is not that Christ’s strength is unavailable but that we don’t avail ourselves of His strength in our everyday, common struggles. Our incorrect mindset is, usually, why waste a cannonball on a squirt gun problem. Well, maybe, because a squirt gun soaks a problem but might not stoke a lasting solution.
Quite frankly, it’s time to ponder the mundane, short fallings abounding in our lives. For example, there’s our impatience with everyday interferences to our schedules, or our inability to stop and smell the dandelions a child offers because we’re too busy pruning the roses our grandparents planted or there’s our irritation with what others do while totally overlooking what God asks and we fail to do, etc., etc., etc.
Long story short, what if we used the power of Philippians 4:13 to change our short comings in our everyday under the “SON” lives and not solely leave the verse in reserve for the super human “soul” obstacles that challenge us once in a blue moon? Since Christ offers us His strength every minute of every day, shouldn’t that infuse into just that – each and every minute of each and every one of our days, we can, and should, avail ourselves to Christ’s strength?
What’s more, let me be the first to admit those little things that so easily overpower me, and I just ignore as insignificant, do matter. They affect my reflection, or lack of it, of not only who I am but, more importantly, WHOSE I am – or unfortunately, WHOSE I am not. Bottom line translates into, it’s time to open my eyes, and prayers, to the small, yet giant, side of Philippians 4:13. Hopefully, you’ll think about doing the same. The result just might be a more Christ like common, everyday world.
Uplifted in a Broken Down World 