Don't Be A Cracked Pot

Have you ever heard the phrase, “sincerely insincere” to describe someone who apologizes but you know down deep in your heart they didn’t really mean it? God bless my Mom for trying, but sadly when I was growing up and I would get in trouble (ever so infrequently) for fighting with my brother or sisters my and my Mom would say, “Michael, tell ________ you are sorry or you can’t go back outside and play.” Reluctantly I would apologize, not because I was sorry but because I wanted to go back outside and play. To say I lacked sincerity would be an understatement.

The apostle Paul wrote to remind young Timothy, “Now the purpose of the commandment is love from a pure heart, from a good conscience, and from sincere faith.” The word “sincere” means “without wax” and referred to clay pots that cracked as they were drying in the sun and then filled with wax to hide the imperfections so they could be sold. No one likes a crack pot and God desires that our love be sincere, not faked.

Our five year old granddaughter told me Monday she thought she lost the television remote down in the chair she was sitting in. I could hardly get my hand in the side and even when I turned the chair upside down I could find nothing. It wasn’t there. Eventually I found it in the back playroom and I brought it to her and said, “Hey Quinnie, look what Opa found in the play room.” She just looked up at me with her hands raised to shoulder height with her palms facing up as she gave me one of her microexpressions and said, “Sorry”. I laughed out loud because I knew from my own past along with her body language, the tone of her voice and her one word answer that though she was saying the right things she was anything but truly sorry. It was more like “sorry not sorry”.

At just five years old there remains an innocence in her response and is why I laughed because I knew it was a teachable moment, not so much for Quinnie but for me, a reminder of what matters most to God isn’t just sincerity as people can be sincere and sincerely wrong. 1 Peter 1:7 tells us, 'that the genuineness (or sincerity) of your faith, being much more precious than gold that perishes, though it is tested by fire, may be found to praise, honor, and glory at the revelation of Jesus Christ.” More than sorry, a sincere faith without wax is what brings praise and glory to God.

I LOVE YOU!