SCRIPTURE: Phil. 4:12-13 NLT 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. For I can do everything through Christ, who gives me strength.
THOUGHT: I’ve had a can-do attitude most of my life. It showed up in powering through difficulties in my childhood, young adulthood and up into my forties. Then, the self-power ran out. One observer of my life at that point said, “you remind me of a race car that keeps going by consuming all its fuel, then its seats, its engine, its floor mats, and starting on the tires.” That was almost 20 years ago, and God used that person and that observation to break me. I had memorized Philippians 4:13 as a child but had no idea of how to operate in God’s strength rather than my own.
It’s been a sharp learning curve, but complete brokenness helps. If you really want to live, there is nowhere to go but up the curve, learning to listen for God’s voice, learning a contentment that flows out of trusting God to meet needs, and learning patience as God’s will is achieved using his never-ending strength. As Paul would tell Timothy, “True godliness with contentment is itself great wealth (1 Tim. 6:6 NLT).”
It’s my new and improved “can-do.”
PRAYER: Jesus, help us learn the secrets of contentment more thoroughly, trusting your never-ending strength rather than our own. We can do anything you ask of us because you will give us the strength needed.
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