“I rejoiced in the Lord greatly because once again you renewed your care for me. You were, in fact, concerned about me but lacked the opportunity to show it. I don’t say this out of need, for I have learned to be content in whatever circumstances I find myself. I know how to make do with little, and I know how to make do with a lot. In any and all circumstances I have learned the secret of being content—whether well fed or hungry, whether in abundance or in need. I am able to do all things through him who strengthens me. Still, you did well by partnering with me in my hardship.” (CSB – Read the chapter)

Some verses make good bumper sticker theology. That’s not to say bumper sticker theology is good—it’s not—but some verses fall to that kind of decontextualized packaging really easily. Philippians 4:13 is one of the best of those. All by itself it makes a great personal mantra, but it can easily lead to thinking about what we can do and the role Jesus plays in that that is rather far from anything Paul meant. In context, it’s even better and more helpful. Let’s talk about what it actually means and what we should really do with it.

Let’s start with what we can’t do with this verse. That is, let’s take a second to dismantle the bumper sticker approach to it. What v. 13 doesn’t mean is what it appears to say when you remove it from its context. “I am able to do all things through him who strengthens me.” Does Jesus really give us the power to do all things? ALL things? Of course not. There is a long list of things I am never going to be able to do, and Jesus isn’t going to help me do them either. Using this verse as a way to offer false hope to someone that they are going to be able to do this or that is an irresponsible use of it.

And sports. This verse has nothing to do with sports. At all. Printing 4:13 on your sneakers or working it into your eye black is not going to make you a better athlete. Jesus is not going to suddenly give you the athletic ability to do something you cannot do right now. The physical truth is that there are some folks who are genetically predisposed to be particularly good at some sports or activities, and some who are not. Trusting in Jesus is not going to make you a better athlete all by itself. There have been plenty of superlatively talented athletes who didn’t care two cents about Jesus. They reached their level of expertise through a combination of genetics and hard work. The former gives them a natural advantage, but anyone can do the latter; no Jesus necessary.

If that’s what this verse doesn’t mean and shouldn’t be used to say, what is Paul actually talking about here? Well, let’s remember his circumstances. Paul was writing this letter from prison. He was in Rome under house arrest. There is some indication he was physically chained to a Roman guard so that he didn’t try to escape. Maybe Rome was taking care of his basic physical needs, but there’s no guarantee of that. In other words, his physical circumstances were terrible. He had every reason to be depressed and in despair.

Ah, but he had some reason for hope. The Philippian believers—the very group to whom he was writing this letter—had gone out of their way to care for him. They had sent care packages to help meet his physical needs. They had sent friends and fellow ministry workers to help meet his relational and emotional and spiritual needs. These gifts provided an enormous lift for Paul and he had already thanked the church for them.

When you have given someone a gift that really had an impact on them, it’s tempting to feel really good about that gift. Let me put that another way: It’s easy to start feeling a little prideful about the gift. Rather than celebrating the impact it had on them with them, you start celebrating the fact that you were the one who enabled that impact. Look how awesome you are!

Paul understood that there was a temptation on the part of the Philippian believers to think of themselves as particularly special because of the gift they had given Paul and which he had already been effusive in expressing his gratitude for in this letter. What he is offering here is a bit of a corrective and an invitation into a kind and level of contentment that is totally disconnected from one’s present circumstances. This kind of contentment is a powerful thing because it’s something no one else can touch or affect in any way. No matter what the present start of your circumstances happen to be, you can have this sense of peace and wholeness and even joy.

“I rejoice in the Lord greatly because once again you renewed your care for me. You were, in fact, concerned about me but lacked the opportunity to show it.” That is, you were indeed awesome to me, and I’m grateful for that. But while they did in fact meet some of Paul’s needs, his deepest spiritual needs are something they couldn’t touch. “I don’t say this out of need, for I have learned to be content in whatever circumstances I find myself.” In other words, I was going to be content in my present situation whether you did what you did for me or not. Your gift was grace—”Still, you did well by partnering with me in my hardship”—and you should be praised for giving it, but you can only do so much.

“I know how to make do with a lot. In any and all circumstances I have learned the secret of being content—whether well fed or hungry, whether in abundance or in need.” Now, that right there should have us paying pretty close attention to whatever it is that Paul says next. After all, who doesn’t want to know the secret of being content in any and all circumstances? I sure do. I suspect you do too. Thankfully, Paul doesn’t leave us wondering. He jumps right to it.

“I am able to do all things through him who strengthens me.” Now, the “him” here is obviously Jesus. Let’s not leave that in any amount of doubt. More to the point, here we finally arrive at the bumper sticker verse. Having walked our way here through the context, what is Paul actually talking about? This isn’t some kind of self-empowerment mantra. This is the secret to universal contentment, and especially finding contentment in hard circumstances. And the secret is Jesus.

The secret is not Jesus in the sense that you just need to sprinkle a bit of Him in your life like you might season your eggs for breakfast. Not even remotely so. The secret is making Jesus your Lord and then living in obedience to His command by the power of His Spirit in you. When you do this, you will experience His peace and joy and hope and love in abundance. And that combination will enable you to see through whatever your circumstances happen to be to His kingdom which is waiting for you when your journey through this life comes to an end. More than that, those gifts will enable you to start experiencing the wonder of living in His perfect, eternal kingdom here and now.

As Paul just wrote, the peace of Christ surpasses all understanding. That is, it settles on our hearts and minds in ways and at times that seem like they should leave us feeling anything other than peaceful. But there it is. Because our peace isn’t connected to our physical circumstances. The same thing goes with our joy. And because of the promise of His kingdom, our hope never wavers. And His love never ends. In fact, if anything, it grows all the stronger when we are struggling and striving for faithfulness in the face of the world’s worst attacks against us. All of these things combine to result in a contentedness that persists in our hearts and minds no matter what.

If you want to be content no matter what your situation happens to be, Jesus is the secret. Through His strength in you, you will be able to do all things; you will be able to be content in all circumstances. It just takes a simple matter of acknowledging who He is and the historical reality of the resurrection on your part, and He’ll take care of the rest as you keep on following Him and pursuing the path of obedience. The work won’t always be easy, but that sense of contentment won’t ever waver. You will most certainly be glad that you did.