The Value of Sincerity – Without Wax
I heard a great snippet of a sermon on the word “Sincerity” recently. The preacher asked the audience if they knew the meaning of the word sincerity. He then gave the two root words that the word sincerity comes from. The two Latin words it is said to come from are, Sine, which means ‘without’, and Cera, which means ‘wax’.
Without Wax. You might be asking what in the world does “Without Wax” have to do with a word about being honest and truthful? The common idea comes from ancient Roman times and has to do with pottery makers. Some unscrupulous potters would fill in any cracks in freshly baked pottery with wax before they were glazed and the final firing was done to bake in the glaze on the outside of the pot. It was very difficult to tell that a pot was flawed once this was done. In a time when pottery was used daily for all sorts of personal needs, this was a serious problem.
As a way to combat this practice, the honest craftsmen would advertise above their doors, “Sine Cera” to show buyers that they did not follow the practice of hiding flaws with wax. They were selling pottery that was sound all the way through, not just on the surface.
This is Sincerity. You are what you appear to be. You have integrity. You are what you say you are. You are not hiding flaws beneath a hollow shell of perfection. In a time when we see the rich and the famous brought low because of hidden behavior, persons of sincere character are much needed.
Are you “Sine Cera”? Without Wax?
