Coming clean in the Light

My son is a glass blower, an artist. Recently at a party someone brought out a new box of wine glasses, and someone else remarked on the price difference between those and another set that looked identical. My son happened to be standing there, so I asked him to explain. He raised one of the tall-stemmed flutes to the light and then the other, and the mystery was solved.

"When the flute is on the lathe, spinning," said my son, "a graphite reamer [a hand tool used to make an accurate sized hole] is used to flare out the top. This reamer leaves marvering lines around the inside. In the more expensive sets of flutes, they took the time to let the glass cool to a solid state after reaming, and then blasting the marver lines with a sharp flame that's hot enough to melt in the lines on the inside without getting the outside of the piece hot enough for it to change shape."

My untrained eye would not have detected the lower quality of the cheaper vessels.

Then there is pottery. In the ancient bazaars of the Orient, you might have bought yours in a dimly lit tent. An unscrupulous potter would have tried to pull a fast one, selling you a vase that had a defect. This was a piece that had sustained a slight crack after firing, that should have been discarded or sold at a discount, but that the maker rubbed a bit of wax into and then painted over the imperfection.

The wary buyer would hold up the vase to the light, just as my son did the wine glass. The light reveals the flaws, and the light shows its true value.

There is a Greek word, "eilikrineia," which means "judged by sunlight." Isn't that a beautiful image? The term evolved to mean "sincerity," and the Apostle Paul uses the word three times to describe his own speech and conduct as he brings people the words of life:

"For our boast is this, the testimony of our conscience, that we behaved in the world with simplicity and godly sincerity, not by earthly wisdom but by the grace of God, and supremely so toward you" (2 Corinthians 1:12).

Paul urges us to the same lifestyle in his letter to the Philippians:

". . . that you may approve what is excellent, and so be pure ["eilikrineia"] and blameless on the day of Christ" (1:10).

I like the linkage of "sincerity" and "purity" and "simplicity" in these verses. The common denominator of all three is a seamlessness of parts and lack of dark shadows. You know where you stand with a person like that; he will not be saying one thing to your face and another behind your back. He will not have a public persona and a private persona. You see what you get. You can put your confidence in such a person. He is the one you want to mark your ballot for in the midterm elections.

The pottery makers in those old Middle Eastern bazaars would hang signs over their doors that said "sincerus." It was to tell the passing shoppers that their pottery was clean, without wax or adulteration. I wonder if the first few guys who hung the advertisement were really "sincerus," and then every con artist in town followed suit. I understand that there are restaurants that advertise "no MSG" who do use MSG, and that the explosion of "green" products ain't necessarily so.

But here is one thing to keep in mind:

". . . the Lord comes, who will bring to light the things now hidden in darkness and will disclose the purposes of the heart" (1 Corinthians 4:5).

". . . each one's work will become manifest, for the Day will disclose it" (1 Corinthians 3:13).

Someday the Light will, like a laser beam, divide truth from lies. Everything comes clean in the Light.

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