Are you sincere?
God is after sincerity in His people. Are you sincere? Are you genuine?
The two greatest commandments according to Jesus (Matthew 22) are as follows:
“And he said to him, ‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the great and first commandment. And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. On these two commandments depend all the Law and the Prophets.’”
In your love for God and your love for others, are you sincere?
In Romans 12:9, Paul writes: “Let love be genuine…”
God is not after fake love, pretend love or insincere love. He expects sincerity in His people! Our love must be sincere! Our love must be genuine. The word for “genuine” is literally “without hypocrisy.”
Those of us who have trusted in Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of sins and have placed our trust in Christ as Savior and Lord are not actors playing a part! We have been saved from sin’s penalty and sin’s grip on us, but we’ve also been saved from having to pretend!
We can admit our sin and be real, totally leaning on Jesus as Savior! As Christians, we are called to love God with all we are and to love one another, but our love better be sincere! Do not pretend! We are commanded to let our love be genuine, sincere.
The word “sincere” (many believe) has its origins in the Latin “sine”-without and “cera”-wax.
In Ancient Rome, dishonest merchants would cover imperfections in jars by placing wax in the cracks. Buyers would hold up the jars to the sun in order to melt the wax and see if the jar was flawed. Honest merchants would often mark their jars “sincerus=without wax”.
These jars were the real deal. Is your love sincere? Is your love for God and for others the real deal? Or, are you pretending?
God is concerned we would love Him and He is concerned we would love our neighbor as ourselves. But, God is after sincerity! Are you sincere?
“Let love be genuine…” Paul also writes in 1 Timothy 1:5, “The aim of our charge is love that issues from a pure heart and a good conscience and a sincere faith.”
A fake, religious-looking love is not what God is after! Are you sincere? God doesn’t want us to simply play nice, He is after our heart! He is after genuine love!
Take a moment this week and remember what God has done for you in the Good News of Jesus Christ. Jesus has lived the life you could never live and died the death you deserve. He has risen from the dead and is coming again. We can have eternal life and the forgiveness of sin by simply repenting of our sin and putting our trust in Jesus alone as Savior and Lord.
Take a moment and remember God’s great love for you in Christ. Then, seek to love Him; and seek to love others! When you don’t feel sincere, don’t just fake it…instead, ask God to change your heart. Obey God in loving Him and others, but pray that your heart would be sincere.