from today's daily office readings: Philippians 4:13
"I can do all things through Him who strengthens me" is a great phrase. I had it on the back of a T-shirt in high school. And the way I was taught it as a Bible-school memory verse, it meant:
* with God I can do anything.
* I can overcome any obstacle
* I can defeat any enemy
* I can achieve anything I set my mind to
* with enough hard work, and if I live according to the modern purity rules, I can succeed.
I look back at that Sunday school class and think: how very American. Local boy makes good, overcomes obstacles. Just me and my God, and that's all I need. Cue the stirring music, and I'll be off to slay some dragons....
But, as one of my favorite seminary professors said, the key to interpreting Biblical texts is context, context, context.
In Philippians 4, Paul is basically saying to that early church, 'oh, you wanted to send me some money, but couldn't? Well, that's sweet of you. But I don't really need it. I've learned to be content in whatever situation I find myself.'
Not quite diametrically opposed, but that sure is different.
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2 comments:
I heard Tammy Faye (Baker) Messner (I know I know) say once, "I've stopped telling God how big my problem is. Now I tell my problem how big my God is." This kind of reminds me of that. If we really believe that we have a BIG God and that we are really SMALL, then we can let God take care of it and just be content where we are.
Context, context, context... sounds like my line of work! Every now and again I remind myself that context literally means, "with the text" or "accompanying the text." They belong together.
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