When Madame Tussaud’s Waxworks Exhibition at Baker
Street, London, was burned down, all the kings and queens and
famous people melted and ran. They melted because they were made
of wax. They were not real people but they looked remarkably lifelike.
If you have ever visited the exhibition at its new home in Marylebone
Road, London, you may have been taken in by the wax policeman
at the door. Many people have made that mistake and asked him
for directions. But the fire found the original policeman at Baker
Street wanting, because even he ran that night. What must stand
the test of fire cannot be made of wax.

In Roman times wealthy people were very fond of statuary
– figures of marble or stone standing in their houses or gardens.
Sometimes damaged or cracked statues were doctored up to look
perfect by filling in the flaws with wax and colouring it to look
like the real thing. The trouble was that in the gardens the hot
sun melted the wax and gave the game away.

This coined the Latin word SINCERUS meaning pure
or unadulterated. It was a word to describe something that was
good all through without fault or blemish, or wax. The English
translation of SINCERUS is SINCERE meaning true, genuine and unaffected.
So when you sign a letter with the words "Yours sincerely"
you are saying in effect, ‘my comment and affection are genuine
and true. I won’t melt and I won’t run. I am the same throughout’.

That is a very powerful statement. Are there any
cracks in your character? Do you never forget, or say, or do the
wrong thing? Are there no lapses on bad days? In all honesty most
of us would have to admit that at times our sincerity is flawed.

There is one person who has lived on this earth and
was good and sincere all through. A person who was without flaws,
and those that follow Jesus Christ will gain from His strength
and character. To keep His company means that we will become more
like Him. In time that sincerity will become the mark of those
who are really trying to follow that path. They will display that
they are not shams, but pure through and through. They will not
melt and run when they should stand and declare.