Standing Firm in Christ

Paul tells the Philippians to "stand firm in the Lord" in Philippians 4:1, right after he's been talking about heaven and Christ's return and our citizenship being somewhere else entirely. Then he lands on this: stand firm.

Which feels impossible some days. You know the ones. The bills are still there, the coworker who makes everything harder is still there, the argument you keep having with your spouse or your kid or yourself—still there.

Standing firm sounds like something you do with clenched fists and gritted teeth. White-knuckle your way through faithfulness. Dig deep and find the strength somewhere.

But that's not what Paul means at all.

In the Lord

The phrase "in the Lord" changes everything. He's not saying stand firm by sheer willpower or spiritual discipline. He's saying stand firm in Christ. Like a house stands firm on its foundation. The house doesn't create the stability, it receives it.

Last week at the DMV—second hour of waiting, phone dying, that specific fluorescent light hum that makes everything feel more depressing—I could feel the familiar anxiety creeping up. Not about the DMV. About everything underneath it. The sense that I'm somehow not doing enough, not being enough. And this verse came back to me. Stand firm in the Lord. Not in my performance. Not in whether I'm handling things well. In Him.

Here's what that actually means: standing firm isn't about never wavering in how you feel. It's about where you're planted. You can feel shaky and still be rooted in something solid.

The Armor of God

When Paul tells the Ephesians to stand firm, he tells them to put on the full armor of God (Ephesians 6:10-18). Not the armor of try-harder. Not the armor of positive thinking. God's armor. The belt of truth, the breastplate of righteousness, the shoes of the gospel of peace. Every single piece is something Christ provides, not something we manufacture.

Standing firm means I stop pretending I can hold myself up.

It means when I'm discouraged about my prayer life or convinced I'm failing at this whole Christian thing, I remember that Christ is my righteousness, not my track record. When circumstances feel overwhelming, I go back to what's true: God is faithful, He hasn't left me, His promises don't expire when I'm having a bad month.

Holding Unswervingly

The writer of Hebrews puts it this way: "Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for he who promised is faithful" (Hebrews 10:23). Unswervingly. That's standing firm language. But look where the confidence comes from. Not from our ability to hold on tight enough, but from the faithfulness of the One who made the promise.

I can't stand firm in my own strength because I don't have enough of it. Never did.

But I can stand firm in Christ because He has more than enough, and He's not going anywhere.

Today

So today, whatever's shaking you, whatever's making you feel unsteady: you don't have to fix it all or feel strong about it. You just have to remember where you're planted. Stand firm in the Lord. Let Him be the solid ground.

That's enough.