The 4:13 Club

“Learned helplessness is the giving-up reaction, the quitting response that follows from the belief that whatever you do doesn’t matter.  Explanatory style is the manner in which you habitually explain to yourself why events happen.  It is the great modulator of learned helplessness.  An optimistic explanatory style stops helplessness, whereas a pessimistic explanatory style spreads helplessness.” (Martin Seligman, Learned Optimism)

Here is an example of the Christian explanatory style: “I can do all things through him who strengthens me.” (Philippians 4:13, NRSV).  It is a rich little sentence.

The word for “do” has a much richer meaning in Koine Greek than it does in colloquial English.  Here it certainly means “to have power, be competent, be able” (BAGD--a Greek/English Lexicon--383:2).  The additional meanings add to the depth of the word.  It can mean “to be in possession of one’s powers,” or “to be in good health.”  The noun form of this verb is translated as "strength" or "might." It is a muscular, athletic, assertive word.

More than that, the word can refer to having meaning or validity.  Paul uses the word this way in Galatians 5:6 when he describes the fact that neither circumcision nor uncircumcision has validity.  What matters, what has meaning, is our identity in Christ.  It is about weight, significance, and value.

It is Christ working through me—this is the source of the Christian “explanatory style,” to use Seligman’s words.  It is no wonder that this verse is a mantra for Christians in the midst of stress, struggles and setbacks.  I return to these words over and over again.  Not only does the power come from an ongoing Christ-presence in my life—that presence is what gives my days meaning and purpose when the world tells me that I am useless.

The word for “strengthens” amplifies that verb for “do.”  In literal terms, the word really describes the way in which someone or something puts explosive power “in” me.  The root of the verb is also the source of our word for “dynamite.”  This is not just a minor bucking up.  This is the promise that Christ will load us up for the battle and fill us with his own explosive power.

The only problem is that sometimes I refuse delivery.  I continue to be a child of this culture rather than a Jesus-follower.  So I expect that somehow I (as in “me, myself and I”) am at the center of meaning and purpose in the cosmos.  When I write it out, it makes me giggle in embarrassment at the unthinking arrogance of such a perspective.  But there it is.  I also have underdeveloped skills at sustaining a supportive community.  Like most Americans I would still rather “bowl alone.”  That’s a path to misery.  And like most Americans I think that if I have momentary experiences of bad feelings that the world has failed me.

I’m sure you don’t succumb to any of those western, post-enlightenment maladies of the self!  If you want a fuller description of this unholy trinity, read the preface to the second edition of Learned Optimism.

Paul doesn’t labor with these postmodern pathologies.  So he knows what it means to be happy in the midst of the humdrum, to flourish while floundering, to be filled with Jesus even when his belly is empty, to hope in Christ when the world despairs.

Keep preaching, Brother Paul!  I may get it at some point.

Here’s a thought.  What if we make a pact, you and I, to think about this verse every day at 4:13 p.m.?  No matter where we are or what we’re doing, let’s stop and say it—aloud if possible.  Let’s see what happens.  I can't imagine that there is one little bit of that thought that is original.  But it is for me, so I'll try it.