Sincerity and reality - Chambers, Oswald
Simon, i have somewhat to say unto thee. . . . Master, say on. Luke 7:40
It is quite possible to be a sincere person, to be in earnest in proclaiming the truth of god, and yet not have one iota of reality along with it. This does not mean that the sincere person is a hypocrite or a sham, but it does mean that he has never understood that god wants him to be real.
In Luke 7 we read that one of the pharisees desired him that he would eat with him. And he entered into the pharisees house, and sat down to meat (rv ). Simon, his host, was no doubt sincere; he kept his own counsel, and while he said nothing openly of his disapproval of the penitent wom- ans presence, yet he spake within himself, saying, this man, if he were a prophet, would have perceived who and what manner of woman this is which toucheth him, that she is a sinner (rv). Then Jesus proved he was a prophet indeed by telling Simon aloud all he had been thinking silently, and went on to point out that his pharisaic standards had caused him to treat him in a neglectful manner thou gavest me no water for my feet: thou gavest me no kiss: my head with oil thou didst not anoint. . . . When our lord enters our homes, or our churches, or social order, and says i have somewhat to say unto thee, many of us, like Simon, answer quite sincerely, master, say on, although what Jesus has to say may prove just as unpalatable to us as it must have been to Simon.
Custom in spiritual matters is apt to make us peculiarly dead to much that Jesus Christ has to sayour perfectly sincere mood blinds us to the ter- rible fact that we are utterly unreal. What about all our sincere talk of sanctification are we really sanctified? Our sincere talk about the holy spiritare we really indwelt by the spirit? Our sincere talk about the sermon on the mount are we really living out its teaching? Let us examine ourselves and see whether religious use and wont 19 has not resulted in our being perfectly sincere in our testimony for the truth while we are quite unreal as regards a genuine living out of the truth. We have to beware of the deadening of our conscience spiritually through familiar- ity with certain favourite passages of scripture (e. G. , Luke 11:13; john 3:16; Galatians 2:20). There is a kind of quiet smugness about a knowledge of scrip- ture which says, sincerely, thank god i know that now, while the life may be as unreal as a mirage, for the letter killeth, but the spirit gives life. It may give us a surprising shock to have our spiritual customs broken into by some word of Jesus applied by the spirit, but in this way the sensitiveness of our conscience, which is ever apt to go to sleep over the repetition of sincere religious customs, is quick- ened. We may think it a great thing to answer to Jesus, in all sincerity, master, say on, and yet it may piously mean that we only intend to listen to him about the things over which we have made up our minds; it is quite a different matter to be willing, at all cost to spiritual pride and prejudice, to be willing to re-arrange everything under the authority of Jesus Christ, until we are real with the vivid reality which tells not only in our actions, but in the atmosphere we carry with us. May the holy spirit keep us full of the marvel of the statements of Jesus, and so renew us in the spirit of our minds that we more and more sensitively apprehend gods purpose in our lives.
The cure for this perilous divorce between sincerity and reality lies in the determined service of the mind. To say, master, say on, as a mere homage of the lips, while we are quietly determined to go on just as we have always done, is false and damaging, and this is bound to be the result in the most sincere soul among us unless we allow the holy spirit to con- tinually renew our minds by concentration on the truth. It is the spiritual interpretation of our lords teaching which makes us real, and gives us the power to overcome the world and be the inspirers of many a lagging-behind soul. The strength of a real man or real woman cannot be estimated. There is always a great danger that the sentimental emotions which drift around every high and holy certainty may shift us from the courageous concentration on Christs teaching which alone can make us and keep us real.
Let us with renewed concentration so obey our lord that he may find us hopeful, alert, wide-awake saints, determined to keep in sympathy with his words and his point of view.
I have somewhat to say unto thee. . . . Master, say on.
