All Things NewSample

Remember Paul explained to the Corinthians that postponing his trip came from a sincere heart. 

Sincerity is somewhat of a lost quality in our time, overrun by manipulation, shading the truth, passive-aggressive responses, lying, and flattery. How much richer could the body of Christ be if we were pure and sincere toward one another, as well as to those in the world? 

We may not purposefully tell people yes when we really mean no, or say no when we really mean yes, but we do it in more subtle ways. 

If we stopped here we’d have a really helpful lesson in integrity and forthrightness. But Paul has more for us than simply upping our integrity meter.

A distinction of the Christian faith is that it’s not merely about achieving moral standards or looking like well-behaved Christians for the sake of being really good people. Paul had already spent much of his life in that pursuit, achieving a stellar Jewish education, being a member of the Pharisees, being trained by a top rabbi, and executing self-righteousness flawlessly. But he realized all of his “goodness” amounted to nothing but a dung heap (Phil. 3:8). 

Now that he is defending his actions to the Corinthians, his point is that being wishy-washy toward them would go against one of his core beliefs: God is faithful. He cannot lie. He cannot go back on His Word. He made a covenant promise to redeem His children, and every promise included in that is “yes” in Jesus. And Jesus is God’s yes to us for the life of meaning and hope we are longing for (2 Cor. 1:19-20). In other words, “For in relation to [Jesus], every last one of God’s promises receive ‘yes’ for an answer.” If God is not fickle with His yeses and noes, well, then neither was Paul. 

Maybe one of the reasons we’re not always sincere or straightforward in our relationships is because we’re not grounded in the “yes” of Christ. I know I’ve waffled, and at times manipulated, situations because I’ve wanted to make my life work the way I wanted it to. Sticking to a yes or no may have threatened that pursuit. But when I’m able to trust God’s faithfulness, both His character and rule over my life, I don’t have to be manipulative or insincere.

As we close our study, what’s been the most convicting part for you?