We’ve all done it, and most of us have had to deal with it in others. Insincerity: doing something with a half-heart or even no heart. Sometimes we do it out of mixed motivation- I ask my wife if she wants me to clean up after dinner, not because I’m curious if I can help, but because I’m hoping she will offer to do it all. Sometimes it is to get a desired result: our second child, Luke, has recently learned to manipulate his facial expressions to get sympathy out of us. At first he may have gotten us a few times, but now we see through it and can’t help but laugh. We all do it: we say “sorry” when we’re not, we hug people we don’t actually like, we may even pretend to be someone’s friend and then speak poorly about them behind their back. Insincerity is a disgusting habit, but it’s so easy.
Sincerity, on the other hand, is a beautiful thing- to be exactly like the person we want others to see, to be as good when alone as we act on Sunday morning, to be as loving to others when they’re not looking as we are to their faces. If only we could all achieve such perfect consistency!
Today, we will be looking at the concept of sincerity in our faith. It is too easy to make our faith into a mask we put on when necessary. Rather than being fake, our text encourages us to lay our hearts bare before a perfect and all-knowing God- not because we are faultless, but because we are full of fault, so that He can make us into the consistent individuals we should be.