The Secret Before the Strength of being a Christian
What does it take to be a Christian?
Everyone has heard and used the scripture Philippians 4:13:
“I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.” - Philippians 4:13 NKJV
Most of us wear this verse like a badge of victory, and it is! But it’s also much deeper than that. It’s not a verse about triumph alone, it’s a verse about what it costs to reach that triumph. Even the cross shows us there is no victory without suffering. Have you ever paid attention to the verses before Phil 4:13? We’ll get there in a moment, but first let’s look at the world Paul lived in at the time of writing that particular verse and why that matters to us today.
Saul's/Paul’s World and Ours
So let’s set the stage:
- Saul was Jewish by birth
- His family had enough wealth or standing to have Roman citizenship which was rare.
- He was educated under the Pharisee’s, trained very strictly.
- He acted as a kind of religious enforcer, punishing and even killing Christians while being Jewish and having read the same Torah that Jesus did. (See Acts 22:3–5, Galatians 1:13–14. for more on these bullet points)
By the world’s standards, Saul was successful. He had status, education, and cultural approval, everything Rome valued.
Now pause there, and think about our world.
We live in a modern Rome. Our society worships image, power, and control. We elevate the influential, the wealthy, and the popular, while quietly dismissing those who live counter to that system.
The Fall and the Calling
So when Saul met Jesus on the road to Damascus. He literally fell off his donkey and into grace. In that moment, everything changed.
He lost his status, his income, his social standing, and his approval from both Rome and the Jewish elite. He went from persecutor to persecuted. And yet, through all that, he gained something far greater: purpose. Paul’s ministry from then on was no easy journey. Even though he planted churches, he also wrote letters from prison, was beaten, starved, shipwrecked, and abandoned, yet he never stopped preaching Christ. A few references letting us know what Paul went through can be found in Corinthians.
“To this very hour we go hungry and thirsty, we are in rags, we are brutally treated, we are homeless.” - 1 Corinthians 4:11
“Five times I received from the Jews forty lashes minus one... three times I was beaten with rods... three times I was shipwrecked.” - 2 Corinthians 11:24–27
You see, his strength came not from comfort, but from calling.
Who Were the Philippians?
In Philippians, Paul is writing to them about endurance, joy and unity when in Corinthians we learned the price of what those things cost! Which is interesting because in my research I found that Philippi was a Roman colony most likely occupied by Roman veterans, people who had served the Roman empire and retired. Prideful people, perhaps. Many of them would’ve understood the values Saul/Paul once lived by: honor, achievement, and recognition. And yet Paul writes to them about something completely different. All throughout Philippians he’s teaching people who had most likely once lived for Rome, what it now means to live for the Kingdom.
That’s not much different than us today, people learning to follow Christ while still surrounded by a culture that prizes status and self. They were learning to be different.
Rebels With a Cause
For most of my life, I’ve felt like the “different” kind of Christian, the creative one, the think outside of the box one, the one who asks too many questions. And for years I couldn’t quite explain why.
I mean, I couldn’t quite put my finger on why Christians were so judgmental? Why did they look down on my friends for what they wore, who we dated or what we listened to? Even as a child, I knew something didn’t sit right with just accepting what I was told. I was learning that sometimes, being a Christian means questioning what culture calls normal.
But recently, reading through Acts and Philippians, it hit me.
The early Christians were rebels WITH a cause. They were the outcasts, the ones who refused to blend in. They didn’t follow their culture’s rules, and they definitely didn’t fit in with society. They were radical lovers of people, even their enemies. They were bold. They were inconvenient. They were different.
And that's what my spirit had always recognized.
That’s why “normal Christianity” has never felt right to me.
Because true Christianity isn’t passive or following the crowd, it’s revolutionary.
We live in a time where following Christ still goes against the grain. Where loving your enemy looks naïve, forgiving the unforgivable looks weak, and standing for truth gets labeled as hate. But just like Paul back then, our faith isn’t about blending in, it’s about standing apart. Even when it hurts, even when it’s hard.
The Secret Before the Strength
So now, when I read Philippians 4:13, I can’t help but notice what comes before and after it. Verse 12 says;
“I know how to be abased (or belittled), and I know how to abound(or have much). Everywhere and in all things I have learned both to be full and to be hungry, both to abound and to suffer need.” - Philippians 4:12
And right after verse 13, Paul says:
“Nevertheless, you have done well that you shared in my distress.” - Philippians 4:14
It’s funny, the verse everyone loves to quote for victory is sandwiched between two verses about suffering.
Paul wasn’t saying, “I can do anything I dream up because Christ gives me power.” He was saying, “I can endure anything because Christ and His strength is in me.”
Paul’s strength didn’t come from privilege or position, it came from surrender. So yes, Christ does in fact strengthen us! But it doesn’t come from wishing or winning. It comes from walking through the hard things, from choosing truth over comfort, compassion over pride, and obedience over popularity.
So, what is the secret before the strength? Surrender. I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.. Because… I surrendered to Him.
So, till next time, go out there and continue to live wholeheartedly!