The last of the nine ingredients in Henry Drummond’s Spectrum of Love is sincerity.

Why is sincerity important? Sincerity is the quality of being honest and true. If you want to have any influence on others, it really helps to have the quality of sincerity. When you add up all of the other ingredients in the Spectrum of Love, the result is sincerity. Sincerity climbs when we can exhibit the qualities of patience, kindness, generosity, courtesy, humility, good temper, unselfishness and guilelessness.

Have you ever thought you had the answer and tried to convince someone of your solution, only to have them treat you with skepticism and poo-pooh your idea? If so, did they think you were lying? Did they think you were trying to fool them? Maybe they were too preoccupied and distracted to see you as trustworthy. It’s hard to say why they didn’t jump on board with you, but what is clear is that they didn’t recognize your solution as the truth and they didn’t see you as totally sincere. Following are three things we can do if we want to take our sincerity up a notch.

Stick with the Truth

To have a chance at being believable, nothing compares with speaking the truth. For example, if we want to let someone know that a particular restaurant is good, it helps if we have first hand experience. Being passionate isn’t going to help if your message isn’t true. We need to check it out for ourselves because our reputation is at stake. By sticking with what is really true our reputation and our sincerity will soar.

Show Love

Sincerity comes from a loving heart. For others to see you as sincere they need to know that you care about them.

Mother Teresa stands out as an example of a sincere person because of her heart for others in need. When she spoke, people listened because she demonstrated compassion and caring for others. She spoke with a deep and unquestionable attitude of service and love. She was focused on helping the poorest of the poor instead of seeking fame and fortune for herself. There is a much better chance that people will trust you and believe you if you have a reputation for serving others. However, if you have a reputation for saying things that are mainly for self gain then it will be next to impossible to gain their trust.

Bask in Their Perspective

Of course, just because you are being perfectly honest and present the truth, doesn’t mean that your audience will listen. You might have the very best answer but it does no good if your audience has their focus somewhere else. Do you know what your audience is thinking? Have they dealt with people similar to you, or with ideas similar to yours? They might have had some bad experiences that cause them turn their heads and write you off as insincere.

I remember one time when I gave a presentation and failed to acknowledge my audience’s perspective. My message was proposing a project that I was certain that they would fall in love with, so I just blurted it out without addressing the big concern that was on everyone’s minds. My audience couldn’t even hear my message because of the tension and concern over another issue they were going through. Looking back, I realize that if I had addressed the source of tension and let them know that I cared about their situation, I would have connected on a much higher level of sincerity and greatly increased my chances for a positive outcome. Unfortunately, the project was shelved but I was blessed by learning a valuable lesson that has really made a positive difference over the years since then.

Here are a few statements that I am working on making true in my life to increase my sincerity in all situations . . .

1. I check the facts before I claim something is true.
2. My message is focused on the benefits for others rather than for myself. 
3. I understand and address how my audience is feeling before introducing my topic, my message.
4. My words are in harmony with my actions.

Let’s ask God to help us with sincerity,

Heavenly Father, thank you for your Word and your Truth. Help me to look to you and point to you as the real truth. Please guide my thoughts, words, and actions to be as truthful, genuine, and sincere as possible. Help me to reflect your love to others in a way that encourages them to trust and believe – both in me and in you. Thank you for your love and guidance as I learn to live every minute with love for you and for others. In Jesus’ name, Amen.

Sincerity is the last of the nine ingredients in the Spectrum of Love. I hope that this series has been helpful to put more love in your life.

Thank you, and may you experience God’s love to the fullest!

Dan
flamebright.com