“I can do all things through Christ who Strengthens me”.
God will not put on me more than I can bear, is that biblical?
What do these versus mean?
Phil 4:13 KJV
I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me.
1 Cor 10:13 KJV
There hath no temptation taken you but such as is common to man: but God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able; but will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that ye may be able to bear it.
I don’t know about you, but if you are like me you have seen or heard these scriptures a time of two. However, what you have heard has probably been wrong or not even in the bible at all. For instance, have you ever heard people say,
“God will not put on you more than you can bear”? Well. What if I told you, that saying is not even in the bible. However, what is in the bible is what I gave above in 1 Cor 13 and the context there is temptation, not suffering or pain. See, a lot of well-intentioned Christians for years have said, “God will not put on us more than we can bear” not realizing that is not even in the bible for one, but two, the context there is temptation and not suffering. Reason being, God does not want us sinning, so He will not allow us to be tempted more than we can bear so we can get away from it and stop sinning in an area. That is why is you continue to read that verse it goes on the say, but with every temptation God will give us a way of escape. Do you see that? Why? So, we can escape the temptation that comes our way, not pain and suffering.
Now, I put these versus together to show, that when you also use: I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me, that context is not only good things, or good times, but also hard times, and painful suffering times as well. Unfortunately, many Christians have used this verse to mean I can do all things like, start a business, get promoted, get a fancy car of house, or walk in money all the time, but in context, Paul goes on the say, “I learned to be abased or abound, regardless of the state I’m in, I’ve learned to be content”. So, this verse is talking about going through things, good or bad, and through Christ I can do all things! So, when we tell people God will not put on us more than we can bear, (again, not in scripture and when we use it, the context is temptation, not suffering) we are wrong not only for that but we are incorrect because it is actually the exact opposite of what we are saying. The point is regardless of how hard it is I/we can go through it, in Christ, why? Because I can do all things through Christ which strengthens me, so we are not getting out of it, but God gives us the strength to GO THROUGH IT! So not only can you/we bear it, we technically could bear even more if God so allowed! So again, it’s actually the exact opposite of what some of us have been saying.
Now this is encouraging, believe it or not, because regardless of what just happened, (death in the family for example) or what may be happening in our world or everything going on, I can take it and bear it because, Christ is in me and through Him I can make it and take it. See, we have a hope the world does not have and we can have joy and peace when others have no idea as to why! That are the contexts to these versus, not, money, cars houses, lands, private jets etc. Being blessed financially is good, and I’m not against it, but preaching these scriptures out of context is not correct and it needs to be addressed. So, in recap:
1. Not putting more on us than we can bear is not even in the bible
2. That verse is referring to temptation, not pain and suffering so stop using it for that
3. As it pertains to pain and suffering, not only can we bear it, but we can bear even the more, actually, why? Because I can do all things through Christ which strengthens me! And I can do all things in good blessings and good times as well. That is important to help us realize the good blessings and times come from God. So, don’t get the big head and stay humble with God’s blessing as well. That’s a good sign of maturity!
Be blessed everybody, enjoy.
Closing Prayer
Lord, as hard as these versus are, they are not only referring to good times, but hard times as well, and they are actually encouraging me that we can do ALL things in Christ, including going through it! So, as much as we/I don’t like, it, we are called to go through from time to time in this life. These scriptures remind me, that You are with me, and You will carry me through, and that because of You, we can survive the storms in life even if they are terrible at times. Thank You for this reminder, and I thank you for helping me go through, in Jesus’ name, thank you! Amen!
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