Strength for the Climb: What Jesus Did With Fear

Today we are in the fourth week of our series—Strength for the Climb. This series is based on scriptures our children will explore at this year’s Vacation Bible School. Each day of VBS, the kids will look at a story from scripture that amplifies the theme verse for the week: Philippians 4:13: "For I can do everything through Christ, who gives me strength." Now, many of us learned that verse as a kind of spiritual superpower—as if “I can do everything!” “Nothing is hard with Jesus!” But it’s important to remember that Paul wrote those words while sitting in prison—so his intention wasn’t about telling his audience to ignore the difficult, but rather to assure those reading this letter that God will give us the strength to persevere through anything. So far, we’ve seen this in the story of Joseph interpreting dreams for Pharaoh, the story of Esther, and in the widow giving her offering to God. Today, we have an example from Jesus himself, as he prays in the Garden of Gethsemane.