Helaman 3

Helaman 3:27

Thus we may see that the Lord is merciful unto all who will, in the sincerity of their hearts, call upon his holy name.

Several times throughout the scriptures we find the idea of having a sincere heart. I think it is very closely related to the idea of a pure heart. A person's heart is their core. It is the thing that is "I". It is their feelings and their desires. The thing that drives all of their choices. A man or woman must know their own heart and change them to fall in line with God and the gospel teachings.

But, what does it mean to do something in the sincerity of your heart? It think it has to do with the idea of our heart being our desires. Are our desires sincere? When we kneel down to pray to our Heavenly Father what do we want? What do we really want? Why are we doing it? Is it a cultural thing? A habit? Or are we truly looking for guidance or mercy?

One does not have to have perfect faith to sincerely approach God, maybe you can only want to believe, or maybe you can only want to connect to something more, but whatever level you are at you must admit that is where you are in order to be sincere. Sincerity requires that we be honest with ourselves and with God. This includes admitting your sins in their fullest and not trying to hide them from God, or admitting that you do not believe the things you have done are sins.

To be sincere our hearts must also be open. We can not sincerely approach God unless we do it on his terms. This is because the purpose of approaching God is not to tell him what he should do for you but it is to find out what his purpose for you is, to align our hearts with his. So, while we must begin where we are in terms of being honest about our actual faith or beliefs we must be open to changing those beliefs. We must be willing to let go of beliefs, thoughts, and actions that will keep our hearts from aligning with his. If we are not willing to make these changes then we are not really sincerely calling on God. In essence we don't really mean it.

And remember.

1 John 3:20-21

For if our heart condemn us, God is greater than our heart, and knoweth all things. Beloved if our heart condemn us not, then have we confidence toward God.