Faith, part 14

Philippians 4:13:

“I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.”

Pretty words. Fun to recite. Easy to say “Amen” to. Difficult for most of us to believe.

It’s easy to hear these words, accept them, but put little thought into them. We rob ourselves of a true understanding of their meaning when we do that. It doesn’t say some things can be done through Christ who strengthens me, or most things. It says all things. All is all. All is everything. This is what we are supposed to have faith in.

We are to have faith in Christ. That much is easy to understand. The ability to do all things, however, is dependant also on our ability to believe in ourselves. We don’t like having faith in ourselves, but why shouldn’t we? If we believe in Christ we don’t just believe we were born. We believe we were made in the image of God. We were fearfully and wonderfully made. God made us into people capable of doing whatever task He called us to do.

Faith in Christ and ourselves gives us access to powers we never knew we had. Faith in Christ is the main thing that separates believers from nonbelievers. It is this faith that kept Christ’s followers singing hymns as they were imprisoned, stoned, and persecuted. That faith enables us to know things we couldn’t know before, and to become the absolute best version of ourselves. Not someone who spends their lives controlled by the fear that tells them some things just can’t be done. We are instead able to become someone who knows all things are possible with Christ.

We need to believe that we need Christ, and with Him we can do anything. We were made to only be truly complete when we are filled with Christ. Without Him we can do nothing, but with Him we can do all things. It’s a powerful thing to believe.