If you were to overhear a conversation between me and someone else, and the other person was talking about having a headache that persisted the whole day – to which I responded, “That’s the worst” – you probably wouldn’t walk away from that conversation thinking, “Pastor Timothy thinks that’s the worst thing that could happen?! What if a family member died? What if he got into a car accident?” You wouldn’t think that way because you have a context to those words. You understand the tone of voice and you know how people can talk in our culture about those types of things. Context,
Context, tone and language are very important, aren’t they? The same is true in the Bible. In this past week’s Fighter Verses, we have a verse that is probably one of the most misapplied verses in the Bible: “I can do all things through him who strengthens me.” Can we do all things through Jesus? Can you fly? Can you lose 10 pounds? Can you increase your savings account? Is that what this verse is talking about? Well, let’s get the language. In the original Greek, verse 13 is simply “All I am able to in the One who strengthens me.” Translators in English put in the word “do.” But the context helps us to know that Paul is talking specifically about having contentment in any type of financial circumstance – plenty or hunger. This is the miracle. The miracle isn’t that God can increase your savings account. It’s that God can work in your heart in such ways that you don’t find contentment in cold, hard cash. You find contentment in the Lord who gives you all that you need in Jesus. Even later on in Philippians 4, he says that God will supply every need according to Christ Jesus! This is how we can have contentment. Since God has done all to save us, we know he will do all to keep us and grow us! Therefore, in all circumstances, we can be content because God strengthens us through Jesus our Savior!
The miracle isn’t that God can increase your savings account. It’s that God can work in your heart in such ways that you don’t find contentment in cold, hard cash. You find contentment in the Lord who gives you all that you need in Jesus. Even later on in Philippians 4, Paul writes that God will supply every need according to Christ Jesus! This is how we can have contentment. Since God has done all to save us, we know he will do all to keep us and grow us! Therefore, in all circumstances, we can be content because God strengthens us through Jesus our Savior!