Sincerity. The very sound of that word conjures up a gentle softness, and honest like-ability. There's not one iota of persuasion attached to it. No cajoling, no forcefulness, no proving a point. Sincerity is a genuine light of purity and goodness. It's kind of like a spontaneous hug--from heart to heart.
Romans 12: 9,10 commands, "Let your love be sincere [the real thing]; hate what is evil [loathe all ungodliness, turn in horror from wickedness], but hold fast to that which is good. Love one another with brotherly affection [as members of one family], giving precedence and showing honor to one another." (Amplified)
"Let your love be sincere". Sincere. The real thing. Without wax.
At the time Paul wrote this, many statues were being made and sculpted of goddesses and gods. Whenever the sculptor chinked the marble or stone with miscalculation, a chunk off the nose or a chip on an ear-lobe could result. To cover the mistake, the sculptor would melt wax and fill in the spot. No one would be the wiser unless the sculpture was placed in the heat of the noonday sun. Should it be placed in that light, the wax would melt and reveal the flaw. The word "sincere" in this passage is the same as "without wax". Sincerity has no flaws, no hidden motives, no covered pimples, no deceitful flattery. Sincerity is without guile.
Sincere love is pure and trustworthy.
"Love 'thinketh no evil,' imputes no motive, sees the bright side, puts the best construction on every action." Henry Drummond ~~The Greatest Thing In The World
Do we love like that? Can we love like that? I think we all do at one time or another. But consistently, continually? Only through the Spirit of God.
Paul tells us what to do. Practice that love. Work at it until it becomes second nature, then first nature. We must so surrender our own importance, our own status, reputation and opinion that only pure love is shown to every brother and sister in Christ. Why? So others will know Jesus by our love for the brethren--every last one of the brethren. We are not allowed to pick and choose which brethren to love.
"From the fruit of his words a man shall be satisfied with good, and the work of a man's hands shall come back to him [as in harvest]." Pr.12:14
Can people see a pure holy God when we treat each other with disdain? Can people see the love of Christ when we show contempt and disgust for our brethren? Can a lost world desire to know Whom we serve as Lord when we bow to man, or to society? Can we exemplify sincerity with our schemes, back-biting, finger-pointing, tale-bearing and strife? Can we add one person to the Kingdom of Heaven with our deceit, our waxed-over sin?
According to Drummond, sincerity "is the self-restraint which refuses to make capital out of others faults; the charity which delights not in exposing the weakness of others but 'covereth all things'; the sincerity of purpose which endeavors to see things as they are and rejoices to find them better than suspicion feared or gossip denounced."
Oh that we could be so self-restrained! Oh that we could be so sincere! May all my flaws be visible to me, oh Lord, as You light the darkest corners of my heart. Let me bring them into Your presence that You might cleanse me of all iniquity and prune the useless branches from Your Vine that Your fruit would be given Life to harvest in the time You have appointed unto me. selahV