Are You Without Wax?

Wes Stafford, president and CEO of Compassion Int’l, wrote of his experience growing up as a Third Culture Kid in the Ivory Coast. His folks were missionaries among the Senufo tribe; a people of hunters, fishermen, and farmers. Every Wednesday he and his friends would walk into a nearby village for Market Day where the different tribes would buy each others’ goods. A tribe of craftsmen would always arrive early and set up their kiosks under the shade of a grove of mango trees. This shade was a luxury as the temperature in the sun would often reach 120 degrees F. Unfortunately these craftsmen were also “crafty” and would try and sell cracked and split wood carvings which had been filled in with wax and covered over with shoe polish; the defects hardly noticeable to the unsuspecting eye. However,Stafford and his friends had watched the adults shop and had learned from them. They would always ask in French, “Est-ce sans cire?” Literally, “Is this without wax?” “Is it sincere?” Of course the shop keeper would always fake being insulted but then the discerning customer would threaten to take the carving out in the sunlight for a closer look. The craftsman would suddenly become very gracious and offer a special deal on something else lest the sunlight melt the wax revealing his insincerity.  Of course it is easy to point fingers at others who are hypocritical and insincere. This Republican primary race has had one frontrunner after another whose wax has melted when the heat of public scrutiny was turned up. The Democrats have sat on the sideline and chortled while two Chicago governors languish in prison under corruption convictions. Sincerity and virtue can be faked but sooner or later lust, greed, and corruption will be revealed. This is not only true in politics but also in religion; not only in the pew but also in the pulpit. Where are the sincere and honest leaders; not perfect, but honest? Where are those genuine women and men who look the same in the sunlight as they do in the shade? Where are the authentic dads and moms who impart to their children true character and not one that “melts from scrutiny and drips with deception.” (Stafford) “Oh God, help me to be that kind of person; a man without wax.”