Friends,
The opposite (vice) of sincerity is hypocrisy, the practice of professing standards and beliefs that are contrary to one’s real character. We would like to put everyone into one box or the other. Either they are sincere or they are a hypocrite. It’s not that easy! As we journey through our lives, a “gap” is sure to exist between the ideals we profess and the concrete behaviors we exhibit. We try and judge ourselves and others in absolutes when the real question should be “Is the gap between what we believe in and what we do getting bigger or smaller?” Are we becoming more sincere or more hypocritical? Our answer to these questions and or continual observance of that “gap” should have a great influence on how we judge ourselves and others. Are we closing the “gap” so that more often we are living what we profess? Or, is that “gap” getting bigger, and our mouths are writing bigger and bigger checks that our concrete actions never cash?
I will be working to close that “gap” this week….how about you?