Who gets our trust?

People are drawn to good word plays. Who's on First was a classic word play. It was hilarious when it was first done and it still entertains whenever we hear it. Biblically speaking, the passage containing the word play between Jesus and Peter in the last chapter of John is a classic. Not all the translations show the word play, but Jesus asks Peter if he cared for him more than anything else, then toned the question down to, "Do you care for me," and finally to "Are we friends Peter?"

Tucked away in chapter 3 of 2nd Thesssalonians are a couple of verses that contain a word play that shows the difference between what the world gives and what God gives. In verse 1, the writer asks his brothers and sisters to pray for him. His reason is split between the rest of verse 1 and verse 2. The verse 2 reason is "so that we can be rescued from people's moral morass and base living." Then comes the word play.

The writer wants to be rescued from people's (probably the Jews' and the Romans') ruthless treatment of him because (literally) "faith is not in all." The very next statement contrasts nicely, in fact so nicely that it automatically registers the reaction, "Now that's a no-brainer." Verse 3 reads, "But faithful is the Lord who grounds you and guards you from base living." Therein lies the word play. Who wouldn't want to take the high road? Faith is not in those who live base lives, but faith is fully in the one who helps us from stooping to base living.

Christians, like the writer, know they need to be rescued, but base living is so much fun and has a certain amount of prestige attached to it. So, we read the first 3 verses as a way of "sounding right" in front of other Christians, when we know how very difficult it is to allow ourselves to be rescued from the world's moral morass.

So, instead of letting verses 2 and 3 become a mere platitude, maybe we should make them into a plaque to place somewhere our eyes often see. Then the words don't become a platitude, but a no-brainer way of living.