When a Sincere Heart Meets the Truth
In the previous article we explored the role that a sincere heart plays in what one believes, practices, worships, and trust for salvation. Sincerity is not good enough to substitute for obedience to the Truth. Now we will look at how sincere hearts are to respond to the truth when faced with it.
■ Not By Choosing Feelings Over Fact
Some might argue that even if a person’s religion is false, what really matters is their sincerity. If one sincerely believed they were a dog, would they eat dog food, reproduce puppies, chase cats up a tree, mark their territory, etc. Sincerely believing oneself to be a dog does not make one a dog. Sincere feelings do not determine truth or change reality. One can be sincere, but at the same time be wrong. Sincerely doing something wrong, like checking for gas in your car’s tank using a match, will not save you from the truth that such an action could cause an explosion.
An excellent example of how sincere feelings are changed by reality is in the story of Jacob and his son Joseph. Jacob had sent his son Joseph out to check up on his brothers. Joseph was the favorite son out of twelve. The brothers of Joseph were jealous. They took their younger brother and threw him in a pit. The oldest brother, Reuben, wanted to spare Joseph’s life. When slave traders came by, the brothers sold Joseph to Ishmaelite traders who then take him to Egypt and sell him to Potiphar. “So they took Joseph’s tunic, killed a kid of the goats, and dipped the tunic in the blood. Then they took the tunic of many colors and brought it to their father and said, “We have found this. Do you know whether it is your son’s tunic or not?” And he recognized it and said, “It is my son’s tunic. A wild beast has devoured him.
Without doubt Joseph is torn to pieces.” Then Jacob tore his clothes, put sackcloth on his waist, and mourned for his son many days.” Jacob sincerely mourned for his dead son based on the evidence he had seen. However, sincere as he may have been, Joseph was still alive. Even after the sons of Jacob told him the truth “‘Joseph is still alive, and he is governor over all the land of Egypt.’ Jacob’s heart stood still, because he did not believe them” (Gen. 45:26). “But when they told him all the words which Joseph had said to them, and when he saw the carts which Joseph had sent to carry him, the spirit of Jacob their father revived” (Gen. 45:27).
The same things can happen in our lives. For example, if you receive a message that a friend or a loved one has been killed in an accident, and you believed it, your feelings will be sincere regardless of the truthfulness or untruthfulness of the message. While you are sincerely mourning the loss, the doorbell rings. You open it to see your friend standing there. The fact is clear that he is alive and well. You do not proclaim, “no it is not you. I sincerely believe you are dead.” Instead, you realize your sincerity was not based on the facts. Now you are still sincere but sincerely happy based on the facts. Likewise, when someone says, “I know I am saved because I feel saved” does not change the truth or reality. They can still be lost in sin. Just like Saul of Tarsus or Cornelius or the Ethiopian treasurer.
■ By Seeking the Truth
Sincerity is subjective, because it is based more on feelings. The objective standard is not how one feels and their personal motives, but Truth. Jesus says the Word God is the truth (John 17:17). When Moses was commanded to build the tabernacle, he was to go by a pattern given him by God. “Moses was divinely instructed when he was about to make the tabernacle. For He said, “See that you make all things according to the pattern shown you on the mountain” (Hebrews 8:5). Moses could have relied on his sincere motives by saying, “God does it really make a difference how I build. I feel very sincerely, it should be built this way.” Yet, again and again, the Bible tells us that Moses had the Tabernacle built just as God commanded him.
A Christian should never be insincere, dishonest or hypocritical. However, sincere as he may be, he still can be sincerely wrong and perfectly satisfied with error. This is why we are commanded to “test all things; hold fast what is good. Abstain from every form of evil” (1 Thess. 5:21.22). “Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits, whether they are of God; because many false prophets have gone out into the world” (1 John 4:1).
In contrast, insincere people shun the truth, close their eyes and ears to the truth, and refuse to accept truth (2 Thess. 2:10-12). This explains why there are many lies being believed in the religious world today.
■ By Changing To Conform to the Truth
There is an ancient Hindu story about six blind men brought to examine an elephant. The first man touching the elephant’s side claiming “it’s like a wall.” The second man touching his tusk sincerely believed an elephant is like a spear. The next man holding the trunk believed an elephant is like a snake. The fourth blind man honestly thought it was more like a tree when embracing the leg. “An elephant is like a fan” declared the fifth man holding on to the elephant’s ear. Finally, the sixth man grabbed the elephant’s tail and believe it to be like a rope. The Hindu concept is that each man is correct, so long as he is touching the elephant. Therefore, all religions lead to God – just pick one. But this does not change the truth that the elephant is not a tree or a rope, etc. The man who sees the whole elephant knows the truth. The sincere blind men had a limited perspective on the truth. Their sincerity does not change the reality of what an elephant is.
When someone is honestly mistaken and are faced with the facts or truth, they will do one of two things. They will either cease to be mistaken and accept the truth or they will cease to be honest and embrace a lie. After knowing the truth, one cannot continue to be honestly mistaken. Sincere people can be wrong, but sincere people change when they learn the truth.
The conversion of Apollos exemplifies this principle. Apollos was sincere when he taught the baptism of John. This was all that he knew at the time, and he was doing his best to live and to preach it. He was willing, however, to be taught by Aquila and Priscilla and to conform to the newly discovered truth.
Now a certain Jew named Apollos, born at Alexandria, an eloquent man and mighty in the Scriptures, came to Ephesus. This man had been instructed in the way of the Lord; and being fervent in spirit, he spoke and taught accurately the things of the Lord, though he knew only the baptism of John. So, he began to speak boldly in the synagogue. When Aquila and Priscilla heard him, they took him aside and explained to him the way of God more accurately. And when he desired to cross to Achaia, the brethren wrote, exhorting the disciples to receive him; and when he arrived, he greatly helped those who had believed through grace; for he vigorously refuted the Jews publicly, showing from the Scriptures that Jesus is the Christ (Acts 18:24-28). If Christians are sincere, they will be just as open minded as Apollos was.
Later Paul came to Ephesus and found several men who were baptized into John’s baptism. They were perhaps taught by Apollos who was sincere, and they sincerely believed him and were baptized with the baptism of John. Paul explains the fact to these men. “John indeed baptized with a baptism of repentance, saying to the people that they should believe on Him who would come after him, that is, on Christ Jesus” (Acts 19:4). Now it is up to them, they were taught wrong and thus could not have been baptized right. They have a choice: cease to be honest and sincere and continue believing in the baptism of John or repent and be baptized with the baptism of Christ, which was the correct and current object of belief, that is, in Jesus who came after John and was resurrected from the dead. “ When they heard this, they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus” (Acts 19:5).
Jesus warned that sincere people will be found on Judgment Day. Just how will He deal with those who were sincere in their faith and practices. He said, “Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven. Many will say to Me in that day, ‘Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name, cast out demons in Your name, and done many wonders in Your name?’ And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness!’” (Matt. 7:21-23). There can be sin in sincerity. But not for those who love the Lord and His truth. Remember, “there is a way which seems right to a man, but its end is the way of death” (Proverbs 14:12).
– Daniel R. Vess