Paul doesn’t say “I can’t”, and he doesn’t say “I can”. He says “I can…through Christ.”
Some people have been heard to say, “I can run my own life. I don’t need God, the church or the Bible. I am the captain of my own soul and the master of my own fate.”
Take Christ out of Christian and what do you have? “IAN—I am nothing.” Without Jesus they don’t know real contentment, and their eternal future is doomed.
The Apostle Paul was in jail, not fretting or fuming. He writes about his contentment and strength in Jesus.
Philippians 4:12,13 I know both how to be abased, and I know how to abound: every where and in all things I am instructed both to be full and to be hungry, both to abound and to suffer need. . . . I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me.
This is dynamic contentment. This is victory over every temptation, grace for every trouble, and strength for every task.
Jesus gives us power to face life’s adversities—power to cope and power to enjoy contentment regardless of the circumstances, Phil. 4:6-7.
Ideas for this unprofitable blog are taken from The Sermon Notebook—Biblical resources for preachers and teachers of the word of God. They allow these sermons to be used as the Lord leads but not for profit without their expressed
