Sincerely.

The English word sincere is made up of two Latin words English words: sine (without) and cera (wax). 

Sincere: without wax

To be sincere is to be without wax. 

Now, apparently the term comes from the ancient world of ceramics, statues and pottery. When a statue would age or get damaged, cracks would form, decreasing their value or usefulness. 

So, some clever conman figured out that you could put wax in the cracks (every 7th grader just giggled) and make it look genuine. The only problem is that the wax would age and it’s color would change, so you’d see some funky colored wax where it used to look like marble or whatever was originally used to create the thing. 

I’m no Patrick Swayze, so I’m not exactly sure how this works, but I can see the problem unfolding. You’ve got a cracked statue you’re trying to get rid of, so you throw some wax on it and call it sincere. The wax covered up the obvious flaw, but not for long. 

Eventually everyone could see that your statue was insincere, just like you. 

I think this is why the Apostle Paul wrote that “love must be sincere”, because he knew that love with wax isn’t love at all… it’s a lie. 

Love is at it’s best when it’s willing to admit it’s worst. People can smell a poser a mile away. I grew up covered in so much wax that it’s made me quite the expert in seeing it in other people’s lives. You can’t con an ex-con! The only person you’re fooling is yourself, because after a while, the insincere love will be seen for what it is. 

So save yourself a lot of hurt and embarrassment and just be yourself. Be the real, flawed, messed up you… but be honest about it. Stop hiding and lying and trying to create an image that isn’t really who you are. 

Be you. There are enough posers.