May God himself, the God of peace, sanctify you through and through. May your whole spirit, soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. The one who calls you is faithful, and he will do it.
1 Thessalonians 5:23-24 (NIV)
He Will Do It
The man is fifty-one and he’s copying a sentence off the board for the fourth time, because his Rs keep coming out backward when he goes fast. Nine people in the room and a box fan in the window. The pencil is in his fist.
May God himself, the God of peace, sanctify you through and through, your whole spirit and soul and body kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. Paul asks God for it, and then he turns around and says something about God instead of about them. The one who calls you is faithful, and he will do it.
So God sanctifies them and keeps them blameless, and the ground under the whole prayer is that the one who calls is faithful. Paul doesn’t leave that as a hope he’s floating out there to see how it lands. He puts it down flat, as the thing he’s surest of, and then he asks them to pray for him.
It cheers me up out of all proportion to hear that something’s already taken care of. Someone tells me the form went through, or the appointment got moved without my having to call about it, and the rest of the day has a different shape. Paul says something close to that to people who were working hard and getting tired.
Your part is real. Paul spends a whole letter on what these people ought to be doing, down to short, plain instructions about the ordinary business of living together. The sanctifying, though, is promised on the whole of a person, spirit and soul and body, and the asking in that prayer goes to God. A man can copy a sentence four times and get the Rs right on the fourth, and no amount of copying makes him blameless at anything.
A woman comes in still in her work vest, forty minutes late, and stops in the doorway. “Don’t stop for me,” she says. “I’ll catch up.” The man with the backward Rs slides his notebook to the edge of the table so she can see where they are.
A Prayer to Remember
Father, you’re the God of peace, and I’m taking you at your word this morning. Thank you for wanting the whole of a person, spirit and soul and body, down to the parts I’d have left out of the request. You’re faithful and you said you’d do it. I’ll start the day on that.
In Jesus’ name I pray. Amen.
