This week a friend of mine sent me some pictures of my favorite car, a Ford Mustang. I don’t know why, but I have always liked that car. I can clearly remember the first time I saw one when I was about 6 years old. The car in the pictures was a much newer model, yet it still had some of the classic body lines and contours that reminded me of the much earlier version. We discussed, in jest, how I could convince my wife and possibly trade my current vehicle for this one. However, in the end I decided to be content with the car that I have because it is a gift from God, but that is for another story. You see things may make us content for a little bit, but if my contentment is wrapped up in things have I not lost my commitment to God? We can have all the material possessions of this world and lack peace in our circumstances. If we lack a contentment in what God has provided, and a commitment to Christ, we are spiritually lost. Christ provides all that we need for today and eternity. His powerful work of grace on the cross provides new life, new power and new perspective for all of life’s circumstances. If we do not have Christ we have nothing. We do not have His power for living and His joy that sustains. We need a commitment to Christ and a contentment with His provision to have peace in our circumstances. That is the message of Philippians 4:13 which states, “I can do all things through Him who strengthens me.” We need joy in the Lord not our circumstance. We need joy for how God is working in others through our circumstance. We need contentment with what God has provided in the circumstance, and a commitment to God in all of our circumstances.
For more see PHILIPPIANS or MISAPPLIED SCRIPTURE VERSES