Sincerity is a wonderful thing. But sincerity by itself is empty. All sincere people are always sincere about something. I have seen Mormons who were sincere about their Mormonism and communists who were sincere about their communism. I have seen sincere environmentalists blow up ships and sincere Muslims blow up buildings. Many Republicans and Democrats are sincere about their politics, but their sincerity causes them to push for opposing policies. For all I know, Hitler himself was quite sincere about Nazism.
This should challenge the rabidly popular notion that sincerity is what makes a heart right. You’ve heard the idea. “It doesn’t matter what Sarah believes so long as she is sincere.” This idea is not from God. A right heart is more than sincere. A right heart is sincere about the right things. It has a right focus. A right heart never has its focus on any of the many good things in life. Instead it is focused on the one great thing. A right heart does not focus on pleasure or family, academics or business, world peace or a clean environment. Its passion is Christ. A right heart may enjoy marital sex, a family and an education, and it may take steps toward alleviating poverty or cleaning the environment, but these things never become the soul’s trump card.
God is a jealous God. He demands that He be center stage in our hearts. When we pursue our business more than we pursue Him, we are like a wife who pursues a handsome coworker more than she pursues her own husband. She is free to work with the coworker and to be friendly toward him, but she crosses the line when she begins to give him her heart. Only one man has the right to that privilege.
Too many sincere people are like that woman. God made the soul in such a way that He alone must be its Husband, but instead we give the central place in our hearts to things like jobs, pleasure, money, fame, and power. Many of us understand that these pursuits easily damage the heart when they become its main focus. What we rarely see, however, is that feeding the hungry and raising a family equally damage the heart by becoming its main focus. The ultimate purpose of a human being is not to feed the hungry or raise a family.
Many sincere people are in love with the church or with ministry more than they are in love with God. Many sincere people have given central place in their hearts and lives to helping the poor or pursuing social justice. Many sincere people worship true doctrine more than they worship the true God. These sincere people are committing spiritual adultery against their God, and their lives will never be what God means them to be as long as their own desires or their good cause dominates their life.
Jesus is Lord. He reigns. We are not our own. We are bought at a price. Jesus will not have substitute lords as His rival. A right heart understands this and cries out for the grace of God to make it happen.
