Tonio Panaligan

Following Jesus by grace alone.

I still get grumpy whenever I don't have breakfast and coffee ☕

[Tonio Panaligan @panaliganmo]

I'm Nobody! Who are you?
Are you – Nobody – too?
Then there's a pair of us!
Don't tell! they'd advertise – you know!

How dreary – to be – Somebody!
How public – like a Frog –
To tell one's name – the livelong June –
To an admiring Bog!

- Emily Dickinson

[Sandra Boynton @SandyBoynton]

#summertime

[Chad Bird @birdchadlouis]

The verse quoted out-of-context the most in the New Testament, perhaps even the entire Bible, is Philippians 4:13, "I can do all things through him who strengthens me." We read it today in Bible in One Year.

Often, people use it to mean, “With Jesus, I can achieve anything. Win the game. Get the promotion. Reach my dreams.” As the quip goes, “I can do all things through a verse taken out of context.”

What is Paul really talking about? Remember the #1 rule of biblical interpretation: Context. So, back up one verse: “I know how to be brought low, and I know how to abound. In any and every circumstance, I have learned the secret of facing plenty and hunger, abundance and need” (Phil. 4:12).

Then comes verse 13: “I can do all things through him who strengthens me.”

The Greek helps clarify Paul’s meaning. In verse 12, Paul uses forms of the Greek root πᾶς (pas/panta) twice in the phrase “in any and every circumstance” (ἐν παντὶ καὶ ἐν πᾶσιν). Then, in verse 13, he uses the same root again: “I can do all things” (πάντα).

The “all things” of verse 13 is defined by the “any and every circumstance” of verse 12.

Paul is not saying, “Christ gives me power to accomplish every dream imaginable.” He is saying, “In all these circumstances, hungry or well-fed, free or imprisoned, Christ gives me strength to endure.”

This fits the larger context of Philippians as well. Paul is writing as a suffering apostle who has endured beatings, imprisonments, hardship, and uncertainty. Yet he has learned “the secret” of contentment: resting in Christ, relying on his mercy and strength.

Can Christians apply this verse to their own lives? Of course! It is the verse to focus our contentment on Christ—not us, not our wishes, not our dreams—but on him alone. The verse reminds us that everything in this life, except Jesus, is subject to change, failure, and loss.

Jesus, however, will not lose us or abandon us. Finding contentment and stability in him keeps us going, whether our lives are smooth sailing or a dumpster fire.

As Paul says earlier in the letter, “For me to live is Christ” (1:21). Amen.

[Tonio Panaligan @panaliganmo]

To the white Hyundai Tucson that was unnecessarily speeding along Rufino tonight: thanks for drenching my jeans and shoes with floodwater. 🙄

[Edwin Lacierda @dawende]

A CHEAP SHOT

Sen. Marcoleta’s attack on Sen. Risa Hontiveros that she did not know the rules because she is not a lawyer is a cheap shot, an argument from arrogance and credentialism at its worst.

One need not be a lawyer to recognize a legal issue. One need not be a doctor to recognize when a person has fever. And one need not be an engineer to recognize a bridge collapsing.

Sen. Risa Hontiveros may not be a lawyer but dismissing her argument on that basis is an attack on her credentials, not a defense of substance.

In public debate, the question is not who speaks. The question is whether what is being said is true.

If Senator Marcoleta disagreed with Senator Hontiveros, then he should answer her arguments, not her profession.

In the end, the irony was impossible to miss. Sen. Marcoleta was defeated by Sen. Sotto, a non-lawyer but knew the rules better.

That is the problem with credentialism. It confuses titles for wisdom and professions for truth.

[Larry the Cat @Number10cat]

CAT ADVISORY: It's very hot across the UK this weekend. All cats should find the coolest spot in their home and stay there. Tell your staff to bring chilled snacks and water every 15 minutes.

[The Bible @NIVBible]

I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; no one will snatch them out of my hand. My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all; no one can snatch them out of my Father’s hand. I and the Father are one.” John 10:28-30

[Chad Bird @birdchadlouis]

Why does God answer our prayers? Because we say the right words? Because we are good, obedient, faithful, or sincere? Absolutely not.

Then why?

The answer is given to us in Daniel 9:19, one of the chapters we read today in Bible in One Year. In fact, we could attach this verse to every prayer we pray.

Daniel 9 is a long confession. Daniel is confessing the sins and rebellions of his people, sins that led to devastation and exile. And at the very end of that prayer, he says this to God: “We do not present our supplications before you because of our righteousness, but because of your great mercy.”

That is the heart of it: “Because of your great mercy.”

We do not come to God because we deserve to be heard. We do not pray because we have earned an answer. We do not present our requests because we are righteous.

We come because he is merciful.

Our prayers rest not on who we are, but on who he is. He is merciful, gracious, and loving toward us in Jesus Christ. Because of that, we pray. And because of that, he hears.

God has an open ear, an open heart, and open hands toward us, not because of our worthiness, but because of his mercy given to us in Christ.

So every prayer we pray stands on this foundation: not our righteousness, but his great mercy.
And for that reason, he hears and answers our prayers.

As I expressed it in one of my hymns:

Jesus, Advocate on high,
Sacrificed on Calv’ry’s altar,
Through Your priestly blood we cry:
Hear our prayers, though they may falter;
Place them on Your Father’s throne
As Your own.

(“Hear Us, Father, When We Pray”)

[Tonio Panaligan @panaliganmo]

https://t.co/sGih1HKcx7

[sharephil.org @SharePHIL_]

This reform aims to prevent board entrenchment, bring in fresh perspectives, and boost investor confidence.
Read more: https://t.co/ea1hHUdnVJ

#PSE #StockMarketPH #Investing #CorporateGovernance

[sharephil.org @SharePHIL_]

At SharePHIL, we couldn't agree more. Let's make financial education a core K-12 skill!

🔗 https://t.co/4m2wXYJY41

[sharephil.org @SharePHIL_]

An educated investor is a resilient investor!

According to a great piece by FINEX Foundation Chair EJ Qua Hiansen in @TheManilaTimes, financial literacy is our best defense against speculative investing and economic shocks.

🔗 https://t.co/4m2wXYJY41

[Chad Bird @birdchadlouis]

The next time you are facing some huge fear, plagued by anxiety about politics, money, wars, health, or family issues, whatever it is, open your Bible to Job 38.

This is when God finally breaks the silence and speaks to Job out of the whirlwind.

He tells Job, in essence, “Gird up your loins. Dress for action. I am going to question you.”

Then, in example after example, he hammers home this truth: God is God, and Job is not.

God created the heavens and the earth, and he still holds the entire world in his hands. Not part of the world, not most of the world, but the whole world.

And in that truth, there is consolation. Being God is far above our pay grade.

We are his children, severely limited in our understanding, even of our own lives, much less how every event in our lives and in the lives of others is woven into the vast web of history. Of course, we do not understand what is happening most of the time.

But God created everything and keeps everything going. And ultimately everything will be okay, because the God who created the world and sustains it is the same God who spoke to Job.

That God is providentially shepherding all history.
That God loves us.
He sent his Son to redeem this world.

And nothing bad that happens in this world can un-resurrect our Lord.

Because of that truth, we remain safe and secure in the love of our Father, come what may.
_______
We read Job 38 today in Bible in One Year. Join us at https://t.co/XxNvEtNH7e

[sharephil.org @SharePHIL_]

We are taking financial literacy to the next level!
SharePHIL has officially signed an MOU with @gcashofficial to integrate our Project RISE educational videos directly into the GCash app.

[SpurgeonBooks @SpurgeonBooks]

“Have patience, believer: eternity will right the wrongs of time.”

— Charles Spurgeon

[Truce Podcast @trucepodcast]

New episode! Jimmy Carter was president at a difficult time. Inflation was rising, the country lost respect for its leaders, and hostages were taken in a foreign conflict. On this episode, how the Carter administration wrestled with these issue.
Listen at https://t.co/p8l1xex5Kk

[sharephil.org @SharePHIL_]

Want insights on the PH stock market from one of its foremost champions? 🌟

Catch SharePHIL President Dino Bate's exclusive interview with Stephen CuUnjieng on ANC’s Banker After Dark.

Watch here: https://t.co/VSxmN62SM0
#SharePHIL #COLFinancial #PhilippineStockMarket

[AltMobility PH @AltMobilityPH]

The EDSA Busway remains one of the most effective transport interventions in Metro Manila, reliably serving close to 200,000 commuters daily.  Letting private cars use the exclusive bus lane would weaken the public transport system and reduce the benefits for the commuters

[Theocast @theocast_org]

Grace is not the reward for your discipline.
If it were, it wouldn’t be grace.

[Chad Bird @birdchadlouis]

Genesis 38 often feels like an unwanted interruption in the Joseph story, a dark and unsettling back-alley detour filled with death, sex, deceit, and judgment. For years, I treated it like a commercial break, impatient to return to Joseph's story.

But that view missed the point. Badly. Genesis 38 is not a narrative interruption but a deliberate parallel.

Genesis 37 introduces Joseph; Genesis 38 introduces Judah. Think of these two chapters as doorways. Over one is the name Joseph. Over the other is the name Judah. They both open into a single, winding hallway that is Genesis 37-50. Those chapters are *not* the Story of Joseph, but the Story of Judah and Joseph.

Both brothers experience descent. Judah “went down” from his brothers into Canaanite society (Gen. 38:1), while Joseph was “brought down” into Egypt (39:1). The Hebrew verb used in both verses, yarad, is the same. One descends willingly, one unwillingly. Both are separated from the family.

The question becomes: what kind of man will each become?

As we read these chapters in Bible in One Year, we are watching the story of two brothers unfold. Neither is idealized. Both are flawed. Each has his own weaknesses, sins, and blind spots. And God is at work in both their lives, breaking them down and rebuilding them into people he can use in his salvation story.

Joseph’s preparation is for a life of service in second place. He is second to Potiphar, second to the prison warden, second to Pharaoh. Even within his family, he will ultimately take a secondary role.

Judah’s preparation, by contrast, is for leadership. He is painfully humbled after his sin with his widowed daughter-in-law Tamar. But he will eventually emerge as the brother who steps forward, who offers himself in place of another, and from whose line the Messiah will come.

These final chapters of Genesis, therefore, set before us not only the shaping of two brothers, but a portrait of how God works in our own lives. He breaks us down in different ways for different callings. He humbles us, wounds us, and reforms us. He crucifies and resurrects us.

He is making less of us so that there is more room in us for Christ.
___
Join us for Bible in One Year. Find all the information at https://t.co/XxNvEtNH7e

[sharephil.org @SharePHIL_]

Trust in action: The SEC’s firm and future-focused agenda for 2026 https://t.co/Z4NTll7PUv