Finally Diamonds

I don’t know whether or not this is true (even if it isn’t true, it makes for a great spiritual application), but I have heard that diamonds are really very plentiful, and that they are, in fact, almost of no value.  However, since the diamond cartels control not only the pricing of diamonds, but also their availability, most people consider diamonds to be very precious. Some people (not me!) would pay many thousands of dollars for just one.  Isn’t it the same way with souls?  They are very plentiful. Common. We humans tend to put one another on a pedestal, and we esteem our humanity to be really something. Yet God knows that in our lost state, our value is nothing.  In spite of that fact, because we are of great worth to him, he gave the thing most precious to him, the sinless blood of his only Son, to purchase you and me from the kingdom of darkness. God knows that the soul of a lost man has great potential in his own kingdom. To him, that soul (my soul!) was worth all the suffering of Jesus Christ, and worth every drop of blood that ran from his wounded body. What price, redemption!

For several posts (here, here, here, and here)I have dwelt on gems and the factors that determine their value. The final consideration is skill of the craftsman who cuts and polishes the stone.  He must decide what shape will best show off the stone’s beauty, and he must cut it with precision.  His cuts are placed where they will best reveal the glory of the stone, which in turn reveals the glory of the craftsman. He then shapes the stone on an abrasive wheel. Afterwards he buffs it to a high polish.  Then he places the stone in the setting that pleases him most. Our master craftsman is God himself!  Psalm 139, “I will praise thee, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made: marvelous are thy works, and that my soul knoweth right well.  My substance was not hid from thee, when I was made in secret, and curiously wrought in the lowest parts of the earth.”  Just like a diamond!  The Master Craftsman found this rough sinner and began to make me into a jewel for his own crown.  Only he found me worth cutting and polishing; only he knows how much I could stand. He is not finished in a day.  It is a long process.  He has a final shape in mind, and all the while he has the most wonderful setting in mind for this gem -- the one that will best show off not only his skill, but his glorious reflection! Wow, can I possibly remember that each circumstance in my life is exactly where he wants me?!

 The transformation from carbon to diamond, from ugly and black inside to beautiful, brilliant, and valuable, is possible for every soul who will be “found” by Jesus Christ. When you are tired of walking in darkness, lost in sin, he will take you just as you are. But he will not let you stay that way.  His desire is to make you come forth as gold. Trust him first with your soul, and after that, yield yourself to him in each detail of your life. Like me, you are a diamond in the rough. God’s desire to make us precious in his own sight!

Gems Again

Gems again.  If you have missed my first three posts on gems, you can read them here, here, and here. After this, one more, and I’ll be done.

 

I have told you how that a gem’s value is determined by first of all, its shine, and second, its rarity.  Now for a third valuable characteristic -- its hardness.  Some gems, such as opals and pearls, are too soft to be hardness tested. Under duress they crumble.  Maybe if you looked at my life you would wonder how a woman can do what I do, or live like I have lived, or handle what I have handled.  I don’t know. I don’t see it that way.  I often wonder why, when so many Christians are going through so many hard and sorrowful things, we are not.  My family is healthy.  We very rarely see a doctor. My husband and I have been happily married for nineteen years. Physically, we lack nothing . All that is a wonderful blessing, and I know it is from the Lord. But I wonder sometimes if the reason why I don’t go through what some of you go through is that I am too soft.  Maybe I couldn’t handle it.  Maybe I would crumble or be crushed.  My trials are much smaller things than many of my fellow bloggers'.

 

If you think about it, you can find some good types of precious Christians in the characteristics of those beautiful soft stones.  Sometimes the Lord allows us to go through hardships in order to MAKE us soft, so that we will joyfully yield to him.  Many of Jesus’ followers would be of little use to him if they had not endured some affliction. As C.H.Spurgeon said so beautifully,

 

“Strong men are apt to be harsh, imperious, and unsympathetic, and therefore they need to be put into the furnace, and melted down. I have known Christian women who would never have been so gentle, tender, wise, experienced, and holy if they had not been mellowed by physical pain. There are fruits in God's garden as well as in man's which never ripen till they are bruised. Young women who are apt to be volatile, conceited, or talkative, are often trained to be full of sweetness and light by sickness after sickness, by which they are taught to sit at Jesus' feet. Many have been able to say with the psalmist, "It is good for me to have been afflicted, that I might learn thy statutes." For this reason even such as are highly favoured and blessed among women may feel a sword piercing through their hearts.” (From his sermon entitled, “Beloved, and Yet Afflicted”.)

 

Other gemstones, like rubies and diamonds, are pressed or smitten to test their hardness.  “Endure hardness as a good soldier of Jesus Christ," the Bible says.  A tough and valuable soldier is one who doesn’t whine, who bravely and trustingly endures the difficulties of battle, and does all that his commander tells him to right away, all the way, and with a happy face and heart :o)  (In our house, that is how obedience is at least defined, if not practiced.)  I am not in favor of women being in the military, and honestly, I am not sure how spiritually militant a woman ought to be. There are certain callings in the Christian life which God has reserved for men to do.  But I do know that God expects me to obey him, and that he desires that I would trust him completely for everything and in every circumstance, and that sometimes the pressures I endure are for the benefit of Someone other than myself. Might I be less near-sighted, that I be rid of my “I” troubles.  May I see that my light afflictions are ultimately for the glory of Jesus Christ, and as a result, give myself to him with joyful abandon. I would that he would find me soft and beautiful, for him.

 

For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory; While we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen: for the things which are seen are temporal; but the things which are not seen are eternal. (…) (For we walk by faith, not by sight.)”  2 Corinthians 4:17,18; 5:7.

Yet More on Diamonds

I am back to diamonds again.  I promise, I will only post one or two more entries on the subject.  Somehow this taxi keeps returning to the jewelry store. And that is funny, because I only own one diamond, no two, no three, and two of those I never wear.  I am not a glittery diamonds kind of woman! (Give me chocolate.)

 

The value of a gem is not only determined by its shine, but also by its rarity. You know what is really rare? “Who can find a virtuous woman? For her PRICE is FAR ABOVE rubies,” Proverbs 31:10. That means there aren’t very many of us women who are truly virtuous in God’s sight.  Another rare woman is the one who has “the ornament of a meek and quiet spirit, which is in the sight of God of GREAT PRICE,” 1 Peter 2. And isn’t it true that a virtuous woman with a meek and quiet spirit is a real gem?

 

 I think meekness is one of those words that people don’t really understand.  You don’t practice meekness by lying down and being a doormat.  Moses was called the meekest man on the face of the earth.  He was a great man, a great leader, and that wasn't because he was a doormat.  Meekness is simply control of your emotions, and the Bible tells us that is one of the most beautiful things a woman can put on. How can you adorn yourself with control over your anger or worry or grief or even excitement? Our emotions are part of our flesh.  The way to control the flesh is by fasting and getting up early to have fellowship with the Lord, that is, by denying the flesh it what it wants, and making it do what does not want to do.  About ten years ago I was a horrible ogre. In addition to some pretty stressful things going on in my life, I had post-partum depression. Although I could not control my rages on my own, I can personally testify that fasting did wonders!  The Lord worked in my heart and even in my body to control my spirit. Fasting and praying strengthen the new man, so that you can be stronger in your spirit than you are in your flesh.  That is so hard for us who have grown up in an age when most of what we do is determined by how we feel!  Whatever we feel like doing is what we do, and how we feel like acting is how we act. We justify it, too, by saying "I didn’t feel like it,” or “I wanted to.” That is wrong! I often tell my girls, “Don’t do what you feel like doing.  Do what is RIGHT to do.”  

 

God is looking for some rare women, women who are filled with purity of heart and who are so trusting of the Lord that they don’t get ruffled by circumstances. Yes, I’d say that kind of woman is valuable. And rare.  I’m not one of those yet… but working on it one millimeter at a time!

More on Diamonds

There are a lot of spiritual lessons to be gleaned from a study of gems.  I don't know a lot, but the things I have learned serve to encourage me in the Lord.  This lump of coal has a loooong way to go!  A gem’s value is determined by several things, the first being its optical properties, how it reflects LIGHT.  Because man looks on the outward appearance, we need the beauty of the Lord Jesus within us to be reflected on our faces!  Do you catch yourself wearing your “unsaved” face?  I do!  We ought to be able to pick a Christian out of a crowd, not by the beauty of her face, but by the beauty of her countenance.  There should be a calmness there, and compassion, and contentment, and confidence.  That is a tough call (and I have not come near victory on that one)!

 

We may think sometimes that we can pick out who the “good” Christians are by external things (we are sooo easily deceived at times, aren’t we?), but a Christian’s value, like a gem’s, is not determined by sight alone.  Gem experts use special instruments to look INSIDE a precious stone, to determine whether it is natural or artificial! There are cheap imitation gems, which are usually made of colored plastic, with silvered backs. In type, that would be the person who pretends to be saved, or else thinks he is, but is deceived. There are also synthetic gems, which are too perfect and have no irregularities at all.  Those artificial gems don't shine quite as nicely as the real thing.  Look at the great men and women of the Bible.  Not one of them is without a major character flaw.  ALL have sinned.  There is no one who is truly saved who does not know he is a sinner, and even after salvation we still have our flaws to deal with! Even the homeschooler who seems to have it all together has a flaw.  (Sometimes it is hard to find those flaws in the blogosphere :o) More on that in a different post.)

 

Our human eyes look only on the outward shine of others. God’s holy eyes look deep into the heart to see if there is anything really valuable or beautiful there. The Bible says, “For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh,) dwelleth no good thing,” Romans 7:18. But with Jesus Christ dwelling within my heart God no longer sees my sin.  Because he saved me from my sins, I now have the imputed righteousness of Christ!  Not because I am good, but because HE is!! I can pretend to be holy, so that others will think I really have it on the ball with God, but only God can determine whether I really have something beautiful (the Son of God) in my heart.  I thank the Lord for giving his Son to die for me, that I might be found beautiful in his sight.  May he continue his working in my heart, that I would truly reflect his glory.

Why Diamonds?

I think it is fascinating that God thought to put jewels in the earth. Certainly it was just for his own pleasure that he placed them there.  If he had not created gems, we would never have known the difference.

God’s creation is amazing. Just about everything he made is a picture of some spiritual truth!  For example, the ants show us how to work in the daytime, and to stay home at night.  The ox, by getting down on his knees before an obstacle, shows us how to pray.  The sun, moon and stars are all types of spiritual things. 

Precious stones also have some great things to teach us about ourselves. The opal is made by a combination of heat from beneath and pressure from above.  Its job is only to enhance the beauty of its owner.  It has no color of its own, but reflects the beams of the sun, sending forth various beautiful colors.  Only God can make an opal, and only God can make you reflect the glories of the Lord Jesus Christ, the SON of God!

The sapphire is made from common clay.  It, too, is made by heat and pressure.  The sapphire comes in all sorts of colors, some much more valuable than others.  Only God can make a sapphire, and only God can transform an ordinary sinner, made of clay, into an unordinary Christian who is prepared for the glory of heaven.

The diamond begins as a piece of black carbon. How seemingly insignificant!  It takes a long time, and again, much heat and pressure to form a diamond.  Diamonds are mined; they have to be sought out.  All diamonds were at one time “lost”.  They have been found by searching men.  All sinners have been lost, but some have been found by the seeking Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ. He has rescued them from the depths of darkness and despair, and they have become the property of God Almighty.  Ah, but not without price. It cost him dearly. Not silver and gold, but his pure and sinless life's blood.

And that is why we are “diamonds in the rough”. I was lost in sin, but Jesus found me. He bought me with his blood.  I am still rough, but he is patiently working on me. Sometimes he makes a big cut (Ow! That hurts!) and sometimes a little one. He is tumbling and polishing me. One day I will shine, and I will be an ornament of grace for his glory.  My daughters are undergoing the same process.  We have not arrived.  But we are growing. My prayer is that my Saviour will be honored and glorified by this seemingly insignificant family.