Sincerity and Feeling

Rich Asks:  What do you think about sincerity? If someone "acts on the truth despite a lack of feeling," are they really being sincere?

Thanks for your prayers and thoughts Rich!  You are asking a very good and, I think, deep question.  It merits thought and attention.  For now, what I would say is that you can be sincere in believing the truth even when not feeling the thing in your heart.  As we can believe the death of a loved-one is somehow related to Romans 8:28 when we have no possible understanding how, and do not understand the truth with and through our feelings.  Then we have sincerity by believing God AND admitting our struggle and questions.  To be insincere is to smile and say I totally feel Romans 8:28 in my heart in the midst of the grief when you do not.  So sincerity is about honesty, not about emotion matching perfectly what we believe to be true.  Over time, the degree of the match will improve as we dig and struggle and live out of the truth.  That is what we are striving for, and that striving is sincere.