I Can Do All Things Through Christ

“I can do all things through him who strengthens me.” (Philippians 4:13)

Life is difficult - this is an undebatable reality for all of us, no one is exempted. The difficulties of life come in many forms - burdensome circumstances, painful consequences of sin, and dreadful suffering. Any believer could easily succumb to the overwhelming weight of life’s difficulties if not properly grounded on the truth of God’s sufficient grace. After all, this sufficient grace made available to us is the only thing that can truly usher us to contentment and steadfastness.

Paul was a great teacher and model on this topic. In the backdrop of his letter to the Philippians, Paul was being held in a Roman prison. But despite being in the worst of places, Paul was comforted and encouraged when he received a gift from the Philippians. He writes to them to let them know that he was thankful to them and also to exhort them to continue in their pursuit of Christ, regardless of how difficult it may be, by trusting in the sufficient grace of God.

Paul says in Philippians 4:10-13, “I rejoiced in the Lord greatly that now at length you have revived your concern for me. You were indeed concerned for me, but you had no opportunity. Not that I am speaking of being in need, for I have learned in whatever situation I am to be content. I know how to be brought low, and I know how to abound. In any and every circumstance, I have learned the secret of facing plenty and hunger, abundance and need. I can do all things through Him who strengthens me.”

In this short passage, Paul exhibits the unwavering confidence and hope that a believer can have when he trusts in the grace that God alone can supply. With everything that had happened to Paul, he had learned that no matter the circumstance, whether good or bad, the secret to contentment and steadfastness was this: I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.

What an astounding statement this was from Paul! Despite being the great apostle that he was, he was careful to remember that with all that he experienced and will still experience, he can do all things - not as a result of his own doing, but as a result of Christ working in him. It was not that Paul was sufficient, but that Christ was sufficient for Paul. Many times Paul had gone through what seemed like the unimaginable - from shipwrecks to beatings to imprisonments - yet in all that, he had come out triumphant because Christ alone was his source of strength. Paul was very careful to point out that he was only able to press on because of the divine sustenance that he received through Christ.

Dear believer, our sufficiency in all things is made possible only by Christ’s sufficiency for us. Left to our own resources, without a doubt, we would fail in every respect. But we have been given the only resource we could ever need and the only resource that could ever serve to be more than enough: Christ Himself. When we come to terms with the fact that we are too weak and too inadequate, then we can truly see our need for Him who is strong and sufficient. Herein lies our biggest strength as believers: our complete dependence on Christ.