“IT’S UP TO ME”

Hugo McCord

After I had bought stamps, as I turned to leave, I said to Geri, the postal clerk, “Have a good day.” With a smile she replied, “I will have a good day. It’s up to me.” Was she correct? Does each person have the ability to make every day a good one?

At least during the last 11 years (57-68 A.D.) of his life, Paul awoke each morning with a “thorn in the flesh” (2 Corinthians 12:7). During 2 years (61-62 A.D.) of that time, while in Rome, the left hand of a soldier was chained to Paul’s right hand (Acts 28:20; Ephesians 6:20; Conybeare and Howson, II, 394). Furthermore, he needed money for house rent and food bills (Philippians 2:30).

Yet to him every day was good. Inside his mind and heart was peace, a peace “not as the world gives” (John 14:27), a peace that “surpasses all understanding” (Philippians 4:7). Though Paul had miraculous power to heal the sick (Acts 19:11; 28:8), the peace inside of him was not a miracle. Instead, it was completely up to Paul to make every day a good one.

The ability to be the master of each day did not come to Paul overnight. On his own, through the years, he had had to “learn” to be content, but the learning was “less through instruction than through experience or practice” (B-G-D, 490): “I have learned to be contented regardless of my circumstances” (Philippians 4:11).

When the church at Philippi, some 400 miles away, sent money to Paul at Rome, his thank-you letter shows that the money was not as important to him as his continuing ability spiritually to be self-sufficient, uncomplaining, and contented, with or without the money:

I know how to be abased, and I know how to abound. In any and all circumstances I have learned the secret of being well-fed and of being hungry, both to abound and to be in need (Philippians 4:12).

Misguided translations (KJV, ASV, NAS, NIV, NRS) have inserted the word “do” in Philippians 4:13, making Paul to say, “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.” Paul did not write the word “do,” poieo. Instead, he wrote ischuo, meaning to be strong, to be powerful, to be able. He was not talking about what he could do, but what he could endure: “I can endure every situation through Christ who strengthens me” (Philippians 4:13).

And that strength from Christ comes to no one by a miracle, but only through the self-discipline that Christ demands: “If any one will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me” (Matthew 16:24).

Susan Walton, a member of the North MacArthur church in Oklahoma City, was a customer in the credit office of the Murrah Building when the bomb exploded April 19, 1995. She suffered many broken bones, a ruptured spleen and nerve damage that left her crippled. In the last two years she has undergone 20 surgeries. Yet, she continues to be optimistic. Of her Oklahoma Governor Frank Keating wrote:

Susan Walton epitomizes the qualities of courage, faith and endurance. ... As terrible as her injuries were, and as complex as her recovery has been, she has never failed to smile and show her love.

Now has come another jolt. While she was in Denver testifying in the Tim McVeigh trial, Susan received word that her Oklahoma City home had gone up in flames. Her reaction: “Well, at least I’ll get a new wardrobe out of this.” (This information is from the July CHRISTIAN CHRONICLE.)

Now, back to he postal clerk. Was Geri correct in being positive that her day would be a good one because “it’s up to me”? The devil has much power, “stalking about as a roaring lion, looking for someone to devour” (1 Peter 5:8), but “God is trustworthy, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond your ability, but with the temptation he will provide an escape, so that you can endure” (1 Corinthians 10:13). “Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you” (James 4:7-8).