I have learned to be content whatever the circumstances.  PHILIPPIANS 4:11

I’m about to say something that I’m pretty sure is out-of-bounds. I teach the Bible regularly. I read it for study and for personal devotion and insight. I believe it is holy, authoritative, and inspired by God. I believe it reveals God’s story in and through the world.

What if I don’t believe the apostle Paul (the writer of the letter to the church in Philippi)? I mean, I believe him. It’s just that when he says he’s “learned to be content in all circumstances,” I hesitate a little. All circumstances? All? Really… All? This idea — unencumbered contentment — at least for me, is as amazing as the resurrection of Jesus from the grave.

I’m skilled at finding reasons to be discontented. In the greatest moments of my life, I can find a way to undermine everything good. Paul wrote a lot of his letters from prison. He knows really awful circumstances. I’m a virtuoso in the art of discontentment, I rarely need tough circumstances to become dissatisfied.

Maybe that’s why Paul wrote his oft-quoted line a few verses later, which detail the source behind the miracle of contentment: “I can do all things through him who gives me strength.” He’s not talking about personal achievement or landing that new job. He’s talking about contentment. He credits Jesus as the way in which he finds contentment. It’s as if he knows too that it’s nothing short of a miracle to find contentment.

OK. Maybe, I believe him after all. He’s not Superman. He’s like me. Apparently, he needs the very power of God to find contentment… in all circumstances.

This week we’ll start our new series called: UNLEASH THE IMPOSSIBLE. We’ll look at some of what God will do in and through our church over this next year. I could not be more excited about it. I can’t wait to get started.

See you Sunday,
Jeff