QuickThoughts: I Can Do All Things

📘 I can do all things through Him who strengthens me.

Philippians 4:13

The Apostle Paul, while thanking the Philippians for their generous support of his ministry, reminds them that he has found contentment in both poverty and wealth.

In verse 12, he claimed to have learned “the secret of being filled and going hungry, both of having abundance and suffering need.“

What is that secret? How was Paul able to find strength to not only survive in great poverty but also resist temptation during seasons of great prosperity?

It was by the strength of his Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ! Through Christ’s strength, he could endure (or “do”) all things!

Christian, Paul does not have more of Christ than we do. Paul had no greater portion of the Holy Spirit indwelling his heart than we do.

If Paul could find the strength in Christ to not only endure all things, but to also rejoice in all things, we can too. Paul was in a Roman prison when he wrote this, remember!

The church at Philippi was the only church to have financially supported Paul when he left Macedonia (Romans 15:26, 2 Corinthians 11:9).

📘 And you yourselves also know, Philippians, that at the first preaching of the gospel, after I left Macedonia, no church fellowshipped with me in the matter of giving and receiving but you alone.

Philippians 4:15

Beyond merely providing for Paul’s needs as he traveled, the Philippians’ financial gifts carried a much greater significance. Paul saw their gifts as a great fruit of fellowship that profited them greatly in the eyes of the Lord.

Their gifts weren’t just to Paul, but to God Himself! What they had sent had become…

📘 … a fragrant aroma, an acceptable sacrifice, pleasing to God.

Philippians 4:18

Paul made a direct comparison between the Philippians’ giving, and the pleasing sacrifices offered up to Yahweh under the OT sacrificial system:

📘 You shall offer up in smoke the whole ram on the altar; it is a burnt offering to Yahweh: it is a soothing aroma, an offering by fire to Yahweh.

Exodus 29:18 LSB

Their act of giving to Paul’s ministry was also an act of worship to our God! When we give, whether to our local church or other Gospel-centered ministries, we too are offering up a pleasing sacrifice to our God, so long as we do so with a thankful heart.

And when we give, like the Philippians, we can expect that our “God will fulfill all [our] needs according to His riches in glory in Christ Jesus” (Philippians 4:19).

So be generous when you can, brethren. And whether you find yourself to have an abundance or are waiting on the Lord for your next meal, remember that you too can do all things through Him who strengthens you!