Without Any Doubting Or Quiddit

“I have learned how to be content with whatever I have.  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.”  (Philippians 4:11–13, NLT).

My Musings – “I can do everything through Christ, who gives me strength,” is an often misused text. Paul was not “faster than a speeding arrow, more powerful than a chariot, able to leap tall pyramids in a single bound,” the first century equivalents of speeding bullets, powerful locomotives and tall buildings.  Nor should we expect “powers and abilities far beyond mortal men” in “every situation.”  That would miss the meaning.  The J.B. Phillips translation reads, “I am ready for anything through the strength…