MOTIVATION – ACTIONS – SINCERITY

"This person's sincerity can not be doubted." This expression along with a few other phrases has often made my mind heave a stifled sigh and I have inwardly and silently expressed "what exactly do you mean by that?" I wonder if the level of sincerity can only take on true and full meaning when and if we are able to rightly assess and understand the motivations behind actions.

I believe that a person who is continually in pursuit of needing to be in a position of control and power over others shouldn't be thought of as 'intensely sincere' as they go about manipulating, bullying, buying, and in any other way putting themselves into a position where they usurp the agency of others in order to gain control and positions of power.

I believe that a person who is willing to pay whatever price to gain popularity among their peers could erroneously be looked at as being 'intensely sincere' as they go about with saccharine words saying those phrases which will surely endear others or who will pay any price to make sure they are in the most acceptable styles or who will meet any demands which the 'in' group might require in order to be able to expand the number of their adoring fans.

I believe that the person who feels that self appreciation and self worth are the foundation of all personal achievement is wrongly identified as being 'intensely sincere' when they go about depreciating the value of others in a confused effort to elevate themselves or endlessly list the many important people who obviously recognize their wonderfulness by wanting to be their associates or constantly expound their personal talents and attributes so that others will see how wonderful they are in order to reconfirm how wonderful and great they imagine themselves to be.

I believe that those who believe that one's efforts are only worthwhile when they hold the anticipation of some reciprocal action or future reward have a limited understanding of what it means to be 'intensely sincere' when they do their charitable acts in order to store up casseroles for a future hour of need or do good deeds in anticipation of the good feelings which will fill their bosoms when someone publicly recognizes their efforts or do good works with the anticipation of a larger mansion in the next estate.

SINCERE: marked by genuineness – free of dissimulation – detesting any form or pretense or affectation – free from adulteration – whole hearted – whole-souled – heartfelt – unfeigned.

It seems that in order for ones actions to be sincere they have to be free from any feigned, affected or dissimulated motivation. True sincerity seems to have a pureness to it which comes from some kind of wholeness of purpose which comes only when one acts with selfless intent. It seems to demand that the sole motivation for our acts is centered in the building, edifying and strengthening of the object of our actions. Is this the message behind what the Lord was saying to Moses when he was told that "the work and glory of God was to bring to pass the immortality and Eternal Lives of all His Children"? I have yet to find any way that this statement of God's work involving His children allows for any degree of selfishness. Is it any wonder that in defining sincerity the dictionary includes the statement that its pureness is extremely difficult to achieve?

The next time we might be tempted to overestimate our personal progress it might be well to couch this evaluation in the sincerity of the motivation behind our actions.