Be Sincere About it!

“And, behold, a woman of Canaan came out of the same coasts, and cried unto him, saying, Have mercy on me, O Lord, thou Son of David; my daughter is grievously vexed with a devil.

  But he answered her not a word. And his disciples came and besought him, saying, Send her away; for she crieth after us.

  But he answered and said, I am not sent but unto the lost sheep of the house of Israel.

  Then came she and worshipped him, saying, Lord, help me.

  But he answered and said, it is not meet to take the children's bread, and to cast it to dogs.

  And she said, Truth, Lord: yet the dogs eat of the crumbs which fall from their masters' table.

 Then Jesus answered and said unto her, O woman, great is thy faith: be it unto thee even as thou wilt. And her daughter was made whole from that very hour”.

Matt 15:22-28 KJV

          

  The passage above spells out our topic out very clearly, God knows us perfectly; just as we are and He expects us to approach Him in that manner “just as we are”, so we can find Him where He is [in truth].

            That brings me to my definition: sincerity is simply truthfulness. In the scripture above; Jesus entered into a gentile boarder [Tyre and Sidon] and a Canaanite woman came seeking His assistance, but she came in the guise of a Jew, while being a Canaanite, for she said “Son of David”- it was the custom of the Jews to call the messiah; “Son of David”, but Jesus saw through her hypocrisy and shunned her, after much persuasion Jesus used the very Jewish customs that she was faking to rebuke her, notice He said:

·         “I am not sent but unto the lost sheep of the house of Israel”

The Jews were the only people that God set apart for Himself and they had the promise of salvation (Isi 9:6)

·         “...it is not meet to take the children's bread, and to cast it to dogs”

Because of their religious piety the Jews saw themselves as clean (Matt 15:2 & Mar 7: 3-4) and other nations [Gentiles] as unclean and hence akin them to dogs.

But He wanted to help her so He gave her a hint: the Greek word translated dog in that passage, actually means ‘puppy’ (it’s puppies that eat crumbs, not full grown dogs!), and she caught the hint and came out clean, admitting that she was a Gentile then she received her miracle!

And this is what happens when we try to fake it in the presence of God; first we get shunned and it seems like God isn’t there, then we get rebuked because of our hypocrisy and then we leave in a worse situation than we came, but God is only out to help us and to bless us, He longs to pour out His grace and favour upon us, He longs to show us His mercy and love, but He can’t do it if we decide to put on a mask. He sees us as we are so be that way. (Heb 4:13)

So pray with sincere words from your heart that line up with God’s Word, read your Bible with sincere devotion, fast from your heart, because you love God, not as a religious obligation. In fact I’ll say this “If it’s God’s work you’re doing and it’s not sincere stop it!”, because God rewards your labour of love (not necessity) [Heb 6:10].

I’ll love to buttress this with a few more scriptural instances. Notice the following scripture;

“And Jesus said, For judgment I am come into this world, that they which see not might see; and that they which see might be made blind.

 And some of the Pharisees which were with him heard these words, and said unto him, Are we blind also?

 Jesus said unto them, If ye were blind, ye should have no sin: but now ye say, We see; therefore your sin remaineth”

Jn 9:39-41 KJV

In order words if we are sincere enough to admit that we can’t see, then Jesus will open our eyes and show us the way, it’s when we admit our weakness that God’s strength shows up (2Cor 12:9-10). In fact a sincere and contrite heart is always the starting point of a walk with God.

“And when He comes [the Spirit of truth], He will convict and convince the world and bring demonstration to it about sin and about righteousness (uprightness of heart and right standing with God) and about judgment”

Jn 16:8 AMP

Therefore:

If you desire a sincere walk with God, just pray this simple prayer and experience Jesus give you a new beginning.

“Father, today I come as I am: for you said He that comes to You, You will in no wise cast out; therefore I believe in my heart that You died, were buried and resurrected for my redemption and justification, and by your finished work, I stand righteous before God, therefore with my mouth, I confess you as my Lord and saviour today the [date/month/year] and I am free from sin, sickness, and Satan and I reign in this life by your grace and have assurance of the life to come in Jesus precious name. Amen.”