Without Wax

Many years ago when sculpting was a popular form of art, sculptors found a way to rip off their clients even if they made a mistake. If the sculptor accidentally made an error, he was set to lose a lot of money. He couldn’t just hit the backspace button or grab some white out; he would have to scrap part, or even all, of his sculpture and start over. Then someone realized that wax could be melted and used to cover flaws, such as by filling cracks in the sculpture. Once the wax dried the untrained eye could not tell the difference. 

The customer who purchased the sculpture would later find out about the wax. The sun would shine on it, melting the wax and exposing the sculptor’s dishonesty. For that reason, sculptors began to advertise their art as being sine cere, the Latin words for “without wax.” A customer who purchased a sine cere sculpture didn’t have to worry about finding any hidden flaws once he returned home. 

Did you know the Bible tells us to be without wax in our lives? The Latin sine cere was shortened in English into our word sincere. Think about what the Bible tells us to do. In I Timothy 1:5 Paul said his aim was for us to have a sincere faith; in I Peter 1:22 Peter said we need to have a sincere brotherly love; in II Corinthians 11:3 Paul said not to be led astray from our sincere devotion to Christ. There are certainly other passages, but those three indicate that as believers, we should be sincere in our faith, our love, and our devotion to the Lord. 

We need to be without wax. We need to be genuine, not trying to cover up flaws that we want to keep hidden. We need to be the real deal. What people see should be what they get. It might be tempting to try to cover our flaws with wax; we may be able to convince others that our faith, love, and devotion are sincere, but God knows the truth. There is no point in trying to hide our flaws from God. Instead of trying to cover them, let’s work on being genuine. This doesn’t mean we become perfect and free from flaws, it means that we are honest, admitting our shortcomings, and not simply playing a part like an actor. 

Don’t be a con artist when it comes to your faith. Live your life without wax.