DAILY DEVOTIONAL – October 10, 2019

“Wax Off” 

Prayer:  God, there is nothing false about You.  You are perfect and true.  As Your Word reveals, You are the same yesterday today and always.  By Your grace, Lord, help us to live genuine lives of faith for Your glory.  In Jesus’ Name, Amen.

Scripture: 1 Timothy 1:5

The aim of our charge is love that issues from a pure heart and a good conscience and a sincere faith.

Devotion – “Wax Off”

When writing an email or a letter, people frequently use the term “sincerely” as a closing remark and sentiment.  Sincerely, or being sincere, means to be genuine and honest and without pretense.  Do you know where the word sincerely originally came from?  The etymology of the word “sincere”?  If not, then here is your history lesson for the day.  The word “sincere” originally comes from the Latin word “sine-cera”, which literally means, “without wax.”

In ancient Rome, sculpting was a popular profession.  If you look back over the architecture of ancient Rome, you will find no shortage of sculptures covering both public and private buildings.  Of course, the Emperors of Rome always made sure there were plenty of sculptures of their face and likeness.  Sculptures of the pantheon of Greek gods also littered the landscape of Roman cities.  There was no shortage of artists and sculptors in the open marketplace.  As is always the case when a fad comes around, you have those who try to make a quick buck off of what is popular.  It was no different in ancient Rome.  The market was flooded with sculptors, so quality was sometimes lacking.  Less qualified craftsmen looking to turn a buck would try and cover up their sub-quality work by putting wax over the blemishes or cracks in their sculpture.  Frequently the customer could not see the flaw right off the bat and would buy the flawed sculpture thinking it was a quality piece of work.  When word got out about this dirty trick, the real artists and true professional sculptors started marking and advertising their work with the Latin phrase “sine cera”, which literally means “without wax.”

The verb wax literally means to grow (as opposed to wane which means to decrease or shrink).  When it is said that someone is “waxing on” it means that they are writing or speaking in an overstated or exaggerated way, kind of like when grandpa tells his infamous fishing story and each time he tells the story the fish he caught seems to get just a little bit bigger than the last time he told the story.  That’s waxing on.

As Christians, we should be “sine cera” in both our speech and our actions.  We should not wax on.  God made us from the dust of the earth with His own hands.  As Scripture talks about many times, we are God’s creation…He is the potter and we are the clay.  We glorify our loving God and Creator when we live and speak “sine-cera” – without wax, without false pretense, without putting on a façade, without being fake, or presenting ourselves as someone we are not.

As Paul says in our text for today, as Christians, as those who have been saved in the blood of Christ and called to a higher purpose in serving God for His glory, we have been charged to live a life of “love that issues from a pure heart and a good conscience and a sincere faith.”  In other words, we are called by God to live sincere lives.  We are called to be genuine not only in our faith toward God but in our love toward one another.  What I am about to day is not in Scripture, but I think it is Scripturally accurate to say that we should live vulnerable lives.  We should be sincere and genuine about our faults and our failures and limitations, and not wax on about ourselves.  We should be sincere and genuine about all of the wonderful and miraculous things God has done for we who deserve none of His love and forgiveness but who celebrate our salvation by faith in Christ’s perfect life and death and resurrection.

I’m not suggesting we have to air all of our dirty laundry all the time to everyone, but as our Scripture teaches us, we are to live sincerely.  We can have the confidence to live genuinely and even vulnerably because we know that we have been redeemed and forgiven in Christ our Lord, and that we stand before God as holy and blameless because of the righteous given to us and that covers us in the blood of Christ.  We have no one in this life we need to impress with false pretense or a façade of false piety.

Jesus said to his disciples and to you and me, “you are the salt of the earth.”  So be salty.  Be real.  Always be faithful and as Scripture tells us, “put the best construction on everything,” but do so  sincerely and “without wax”.  Those who do not yet know Jesus as their Lord and Savior are not looking for some exaggerated spirituality; they are looking for sincere, honest and genuine people who struggle the way they do because we are all sinful and human.  The hope we have to share and the Good News we have to give is that like everyone else we are a mess, but we are a hopeful mess because we know the Risen Christ who graciously works to clean us up each day and who has already made us fully clean in the eyes of God by washing us in the waters of baptism.

As you walk down the aisles of the grocery store today, nearly every label on every product tries to market itself to you by telling you what is NOT in their product – fat free, sugar free, gluten free, non-gmo, unprocessed, lactose free, and the list goes on.  My prayer for you and I my friends is that we may live out our faith in such a way that our label would say “sine cera” – without wax.

Live wax-free my friends, and remember that God has forgiven yesterday, is with you today and has already taken care of tomorrow.