[this message is dedicated to the memory of Jimmy … thanks for shining your light while you were here, Jimmy, and now enjoy basking in the light of your Savior, face-to-face.]

Sometimes when Helen and I have hiked, and we don’t necessarily hike frequently, like out in the crazy, scary wilderness or anything, but we might come to a place where we can’t exactly figure out where to go from there to get to where we’re going.  Sort of to say, wait, how do we get to the place we’re headed?  Are we in the right place?  Have we gotten off track?  At those times it can often be helpful perhaps to stop, and just backtrack to a familiar place and assess from there.  That is, we need to backtrack at times to truly validate whether we are where we want to be.  Backtracking often can be a helpful method of figuring out where you are, and if where you are is where you should be.

I think that same mentality is helpful both symbolically but also in actuality as we try to evaluate our spiritual journey. As I have walked with Jesus now for almost 19 years, I have found it helpful a number of times to take a bit of a step back, backtracking in terms of wondering, spiritually with the Lord, where I am and if where I am is where I should be.  A keen method of evaluating that also extends to letting God’s Word speak into that question.

In the past, I have heard pastors remind us of some of these simple but profoundly helpful mechanics in the way we read the Bible. For example, when you come to a passage that starts with, “therefore,” it is helpful to ask, “what it the ‘therefore’ there for?”  In a sense, it’s a technique for backtracking.

One prolific passage I’ve benefitted greatly from backtracking on is Philippians 4:13 …

For I can do everything through Christ, who gives me strength.

For all sorts of valid reasons, this passage is frequently cited and relied upon for encouragement.  With good reason.  It is not at all insignificant that Paul affirms a key theological truth, that Jesus is all-powerful and all-knowing, and as Christians who place our trust and confidence in Him, we have access to that same confidence.  His strength allows us to do all things, His strength allows us to bear the challenges in life, His strength can guide us through situations about which we might otherwise be unsure or unclear. Wouldn’t we ALL want to be able to do all things through His strength?

But it is one thing to state or even believe such a powerful passage as that, but we have to do some backtracking in a sense to figure out if we, personally, are where we ought to be in relation to that strength and if not, how do we get “there.”  Perhaps one way is backtracking.

One way we can backtrack on this verse 13 of Philippians 4 is simply walking backward a couple verses … Philippians 4:11-12 …

Not that I was ever in need, for I have learned how to be content with whatever I have.  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.

In other words, if we want to be able to “do everything through Christ,” we should ask ourselves, “well, how do I do that?” Paul’s words would say one way is to remind ourselves that we should be content wherever we find ourselves. Contentedness regardless of our circumstances helps to remove what would otherwise be an impediment to doing “everything,” to allowing Jesus’s power to work in and through our lives.  It’s a reminder to change our attitude and our focus. But how do we do that?  Perhaps we can backtrack a little further to Philippians 4:8 …

And now, dear brothers and sisters, one final thing. Fix your thoughts on what is true, and honorable, and right, and pure, and lovely, and admirable. Think about things that are excellent and worthy of praise.

If we backtrack from being able to do “everything through Christ,” and find ourselves acknowledging our need to change our perspective regardless of our circumstances, we need to change our thinking and change on what we spend our time thinking.  It requires a shift of our orientation … fixing (meaning dwelling or reckoning … Greek logizomai) … our thoughts regularly, actively on things that are right, good, etc.  We have to change our thinking. Interestingly, then, our ability to do “everything through Christ,” means that we have to be willing to accept whatever situation we are in and do so joyfully, which requires a change in our thinking.  Backtracking further, we have to ask ourselves once again, “how do I do this?” Philippians 4:6-7, a familiar passage, tells us …

Don’t worry about anything; instead, pray about everything. Tell God what you need, and thank him for all he has done.  Then you will experience God’s peace, which exceeds anything we can understand. His peace will guard your hearts and minds as you live in Christ Jesus.

We can see then, that changing our thinking has much to do with allowing God into the ways that we need to change our thinking. That’s right … we can’t really change our thinking without asking God to help us do so.  When we give it up to him, with gratefulness and expectancy, God will deliver, He will give us peace, and our minds will be guarded and hence able to be fixed upon things that are good.

Circling back around, then, our ability to do “everything through Christ,” has to do with giving everything we want to do to Christ, in prayer and in thankfulness.  THEN we can change our minds and thinking, THEN we can be content in whatever season we find ourselves, and THEN we can do EVERYTHING THROUGH CHRIST.  So, by backtracking a little, we can readjust our course, and determine where we are, and if where we are is where we should be.

Soli Deo gloria!

MR