Would you say that sincerity is one of the top priorities of your life? Before you answer that question perhaps we should define what it really means to be a sincere person. The dictionary says that it “is being free from pretense, deceit or hypocrisy”. It is a window for people to see into your very being because you are candid and truthful with an openness of heart. Young children give us a picture of what it means to be sincere because they are nor particularly concerned with what others will think, of impressing others for personal gain, or of trying to be someone that they are not. Perhaps that is one of the reasons that Jesus told His disciples that they needed to be more like children if they wanted to enter His Kingdom. They needed to come with no other agenda but to believe in Him. Sincerity is not an excuse to “say everything that you think but to mean everything that you say.”
Remember the story of the young servant girl in the home of Naaman, the commander of the army of Aram (Syria)? She was a young Israelite girl who had been taken captive and brought to serve Naaman’s wife. Apparently, although she was only a slave, she was a capable and trusted worker because the suggestion that she gave was taken seriously. Of course, when you are really desperate for a solution to a problem or an answer to a dilemma, you begin to listen to the advice of just about anyone. That was Naaman’s situation because he was a leper. He had power, influence and great wealth. He was victorious in battle, but he had an incurable and progressive disease. An adult servant might have thought of every reason or excuse why he/she should not suggest that they go to Elisha, the prophet of God, to be healed, but through the sincere advice of a child Naaman’s was introduced to the God of Israel and he was healed.
Wise words that are spoken sincerely may have an impact far greater than you ever could imagine. Would you agree?
