Sounds Trite. Remains Most Certainly True.

How I praise the Lord that you are concerned about me again. I know you have always been concerned for me, but you didn’t have the chance to help me. ¹¹ Not that I was ever in need, for I have learned how to be content with whatever I have. ¹² 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. ¹³ For I can do everything through Christ, who gives me strength. ¹⁴ Even so, you have done well to share with me in my present difficulty.

¹⁵ As you know, you Philippians were the only ones who gave me financial help when I first brought you the Good News and then traveled on from Macedonia. No other church did this. ¹⁶ Even when I was in Thessalonica you sent help more than once. ¹⁷ I don’t say this because I want a gift from you. Rather, I want you to receive a reward for your kindness. – Philippians 4:10-17

After the most recent police shooting of a black man in Atlanta, I wonder how we can go on as a society. What hope do we have if the thin blue line gets rubbed out altogether by bad cops dealing with bad behavior and varying degrees of lawlessness. We need a means by which to maintain law and order. Whether or not this is a one-in-a-million incident, the racial tensions are already at a breaking point. How will we survive?

The answer may sound trite but is totally and deeply true. The Lord Jesus Christ is the only One who gives us strength to meet the day and navigate the challenges we face. Christ is the answer for the police forces of our nation. Christ is the answer for the black communities in our land. Christ is the answer for the privileged people, the poor people, the white people, the hispanic people.

Christ is the answer for all the nations of the world. His command to make disciples of “all nations” would better be translated today as “all people groups.” All ethnicities. All cultures. All tribes. All people of every imaginable group will find Jesus and the grace and truth he embodies to be the balm that heals our wounds and gives us peace.

We can’t do all things apart from Christ. But with him, we can do things greater than we can imagine when we live with him in every situation.