The Learned Secret

'I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.' You've seen it on posters, jerseys, and pre-game interviews — usually meaning something like: with God, I can achieve anything. Win the championship. Land the job. Crush the goal. It's an inspiring sentence. It's also not what Paul was talking about.

Look one verse up. Paul has just said: 'I have learned the secret both to be filled and to be hungry, both to abound and to be in need.' He's writing from prison, thanking a church for a financial gift, and gently explaining that while he's grateful, his stability was never tied to the gift. The 'all things' he can do aren't achievements. They're circumstances. He can be full and he can be hungry — without either one owning him.

There's a phrase in Japanese with a family resemblance: taru wo shiru — 'to know what is enough.' It's old wisdom, and it's real wisdom. But Paul's secret differs at one crucial point. Knowing-enough, by itself, is a kind of self-discipline: you steady yourself. Paul is honest that he couldn't. His steadiness comes from somewhere: 'through Christ who strengthens me.' Not self-sufficiency — Christ-sufficiency.

Notice, too, the word 'learned.' Twice, in fact — 'I have learned… I have learned the secret.' Contentment wasn't Paul's personality. It was his curriculum. Which means the seasons that teach it are usually the ones we'd never sign up for: lean months, closed doors, waiting rooms. If you're in one, it's possible something is being learned in you that abundance could never teach.

So keep the famous verse — just restore its meaning. Not 'I can accomplish anything,' but something sturdier: 'There is no season, high or low, that Christ and I cannot walk through.' That version won't fit on a poster as neatly. It will hold your actual life far better.

Questions about what you just read?