"I Can Do All Things Through Christ": What Paul Actually Meant

Philippians 4:13 gets stitched onto sports gear and used as a verse about achievement. Read the verses around it and the meaning is richer than that.

I can do all things in him that strengtheneth me.

Philippians 4:13 (ASV)

Paul wrote this from prison. The "all things" he had in mind was being content in any circumstance he landed in, whether he had much or little.

I have learned, in whatsoever state I am, therein to be content. I know how to be abased, and I know also how to abound.

Philippians 4:11-12 (ASV)

The strength Paul claims is the strength to stay steady whether he has plenty or nothing, the kind that holds up under a long hard stretch.

That makes the verse far more useful for ordinary life. It promises that Christ will give you what you need to stand firm through anything that comes, including the hard and the empty stretches.

Read this way, the verse fits the worst days as well as the good ones.