to live up to my tagline up there ^^^

The “persistently choosing joy” effort…

I read recently that Philippians 4:13, the scripture that says “13 For I can do everything through Christ, who gives me strength.,” is not a pep talk to encourage us that we can accomplish all our dreams and wishes. If you look back a couple of verses, you’ll read this:

11 Not that I was ever in need, for I have learned how to be content with whatever I have. 12 I know how to live on almost nothing or with everything. I have learned the secret of living in every situation, whether it is with a full stomach or empty, with plenty or little.

It’s funny, because so many people pull that single scripture out when they are trying to do something they want to do — the guy that wants to run a marathon, or the gal that wants to achieve a sales goal, or whatever. “I can do this thing because I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me…” Reading the full text tells me that it doesn’t have a thing to do with those kind of goals. What it does mean is that no matter what happens in this world, I can get through it because I have Jesus Christ to give me strength. 

I’ll be leaning heavily on that portion of scripture in the days to come, because I don’t see things improving for followers of Christ, or Americans in general, any time soon. I may need to revise my tagline to read

Persistently Choosing Joy and Contentment, No Matter What

 (Scriptures quoted from the New Living Translation.)