I am not saying this because I am in need, for I have learned to be content whatever the circumstances. I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want. I can do all this through him who gives me strength. (Philippians 4:11-13)   Our circumstances vary wildly across life.  Yesterday we recognized that as we talked about the ever-changing seasons of life.  Knowing bits of Paul's story as we do from the book of Acts and some of his writings in letters like these, we know that this was true in his life as well.  We know some of the situations of "plenty" and "want" that he faced.  Lest we forget: Paul sent this letter to Philippians from a place of imprisonment.  In our own lives: there are times we have things to celebrate: births and baptisms, weddings and graduations, professions of faith, anniversaries, retirements, and any number of other changes and gifts that arrive along our way.  But there are also things to grieve: deaths, losses, accidents, partings, diseases, and any number of other hardships.  With those highs and lows of life, come ebbs and flows in resources available to us as well.  Some seasons are richer, some leaner.  Amidst these changing circumstances and seasons of life, contentment can seem like a moving target.  How can I be content when it is painfully obvious that I don't have what my peers have?  How can I be content when I (or my loved one/friend) is facing a medical crisis?  How can I be content when I bear the weight of so much weariness, anxiety, or uncertainty about the future?  Or my children?  Or the church?  Or society?  Or the world? Paul offers an answer.  It is simple, perhaps deceivingly simple.  How can one be content in all these different circumstances and seasons of life?  Only through Christ.  The one who gives us the strength.  To continue to beat the drum of the refrain we used throughout the series on Galatians in worship: it is Christ alone.  Christ alone.  Christ alone. To hold on to Jesus through all the changes of our lives is a very simple thing… and yet also a profoundly difficult thing.  In order to do it, one has to see the world upside-down, I think.  Because it is actually the other way round: we do not firstly hold on to Jesus—he is actually the one who is holding on to us.  He is the one who loved us.  Died for us.  Called us.  Chose us.  Forgave us. Adopted us.  Nothing can separate us from his love, because it does not depend on the strength of our grip on Jesus, but his grip on us.  And he is able to hold on. Looking at the world upside-down in this way also reveals to us that it's not about what lies in our hands at any given moment.  What counts, is what is in Jesus' hand.  And as the children's song reminds us: Jesus has, not just us, but the whole world in his hands.  Every natural resource belongs to him.  Every breath we breathe is yet another gift of life he has given—this God who first breathed into us.  Every skill that can be possessed is part of his creation.  Jesus has and is enough for all we need. It is not about seeing what is in our hands, but about seeing that we are held in his.  

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