Original: 10/11/10
I can do everything through him who gives me strength. Philippians 4:13 (NIV)
If you were to ask my boys to choose one Bible verse to represent the Ramos Men, without hesitation I am (pretty) sure each of them would say, “Philippians 4:13”! We write it under the bill of our hats. We yell it out at games. We throw the numbers 4-1-3 out like some athletic gang sign. Philippians 4:13 simply states, “I can do all things through Him who strengthens me (NASB).”
Applied to sports the connotations of this verse are obvious but is this really what Paul meant when he penned these words two thousand years ago (somewhere between 50-65 AD)? I am pretty sure Paul was not a football player and I am pretty sure he wasn’t thinking about sports when he wrote these words on that old Papyrus leaf. The secret to understanding this verse is found exactly one verse up in verse 12 when Paul writes, “I have learned the secret of being content…”
Paul is not saying I can throw a football farther through Him who strengthens me. I can hit a baseball harder. I can run longer. I can jump higher. I can catch better. I can shoot with more accuracy. I can bump, set, spike with more consistency.
None of these.
What he is actually saying and what he really meant by Philippians 4:13 is that no matter how hard life hits, no matter how great of a curve ball life throws, no how matter how far backwards adversity pushes, no matter how great the impact when the circumstances of life strike; Christ is our secret of being content.
Our strength correlates to our contentment. Or as Earnest Hemingway was said, “Grace under pressure.”
You see Philippians 4:13 is not about how we can handle our opponent in sports but how we handle ourselves in life. When life throws a curve ball our resilient trust in Christ helps us hit it out of the park. When I am blind-sided and snot-bubbled by life and its circumstances I can still get up off my back. When life collides into me like a catcher stopping a base runner charging home I can dust off my backside and stay in the game.
I can “do everything” simply means I can hurdle all things. I can take all things. I can survive all things. I have the resiliency to overcome attrition instead of being overcome by it and all because of Jesus Christ. As Christ fills me with His Spirit, His passion and His resolve there is nothing too great for me to survive it, no, to thrive under it.
Because of Him I can take it.
So, bring it on!
