Diamonds in the Rough
"So that you
may become blameless and pure, children of God without fault in a crooked and
depraved generation, in which you shine like stars in the universe," the
Bible says in (Philippians 2:15).
There is an old
country and western song that says, “I'm just a ol' chunk of coal...but I'm
gonna be a diamond someday." God has created each one of us to be a
dazzling one-of-a-kind, original gemstone. While He takes us in the roughest
condition, He can turn us into the most sparkling disciples.
One author shared
the famous story of the largest diamond ever found. It was discovered on January 26, 1906, lying
above ground, one of thousands of stones heaped into a great pile of slag. The
refuse-rock from the mining operations of the Premier Diamond Mine tended to
accumulate in huge heaps before anyone ever got around to sifting it. As John
Cullinan walked through the slag fields, surveying the mine's output, a
dazzling glint – like a mirror used as a Morse-code signal suddenly flashed in the
hot South African sun.
Slowly,
deliberately, Cullinan walked toward the twinkling gleam. Letting his mind
tease him with the possibility of what might be creating that glint, he did not
really allow himself to consider the fantasy seriously. Finally he stood over
that earthbound star-shine. As if in a daze, Cullinan put his hand down and
picked off the slag pile a stone the size of a big old softball. John Cullinan
had just found the world's largest diamond. It weighed 1.37 pounds. Or in
diamond-talk, 3,106 carats. Although already brilliant enough to catch and turn
back the sunlight, the diamond Cullinan picked off the slag pile was of course
a diamond-in-the-rough.
It was the
challenge of a lifetime for the undisputed world master diamond-cutter, Joseph
Asscher of Amsterdam, to turn the enormous stone into dazzlingly beautiful
jewels. Without a master's touch the hidden fire locked within the diamond
would never be ignited to its fullest flare. The old master studied the
Cullinan diamond, lived with it, breathed it, loved it for more than a year.
Asscher knew the stone inside and out, better than he knew the lines of his own
face. As the diamond community held its collective breath, he finally took up
his tools to slice the stone.
The first whack broke
Asscher's steel blade, but not the diamond. On his second attempt the great
stone was cleanly cleaved – and Asscher himself collapsed in a dead faint.
Eventually Asscher was able to cut the Cullinan into nine major stones as well
as 96 smaller gems. The largest of the jewels, weighing 530.20 carats, became
known as the "Great Star of Africa" and was placed in the head of the
scepter of King Edward VII. Together with seven other of the Cullinan stones
these, reside today as the British Crown Jewels. They are on display in the
Tower of London.
What still
astounds jewelers today is how Asscher was able to accurately perceive the
Cullinan's interior beauty – where to cut, how to maximize the size of the
stones, where to start the faceting. On such an enormous rough stone, the
interior was as mysterious and unknowable as the depths of the sea. Using only
a jeweler's lop and magnifying microscopes, Asscher was still able to determine
the secrets of its interior life while only looking from the outside.
God is always at
work in us. Paul wrote in
Philippians 2:15, “So that you may become
blameless and pure, children of God without fault in a crooked and depraved
generation, in which you shine like stars in the universe.” While we start as diamonds in the rough, God
will make us shine like the stars.
There are 4 C’s that all purveyors of diamonds or owners
soon begin to recognize that pertain to our spiritual lives. They are:
1) Cut
Every gem has to be cut into some kind of shape: pear,
oval, triangle, square, trapezoid, etc. But a stone that hasn't been cut and
shaped remains just that – a stone.
Have you been willing to be cut? Many years ago a phrase
made the rounds: "No pain, no gain." It's a profound truth. The cuts
of life – the pains, the failures, the sufferings – are all instruments that
can form us into the shape God intended for us.
2) Carat
How significant is the stone's size? One of the key tests
of an expert gemologist is to distinguish between size and significance. Many
of our hopes and dreams are so puny and pint-sized they hardly register on any
scale of justice or hope. A one carat diamond can be more significant than a
large-sized five carat one.
3) Clarity
Can light bend through the facets without distortion? Are
there impurities or interior fractures that are blocking the transmission of
light? Someone once contrasted the difference between a stone and a jewel.
"A stone blocks light, a jewel transmits it, shaping and coloring it but
knowing that the source of the light lies elsewhere.
4) Color
Every stone has its own unique color. One color is not
better than another. Some people prefer yellow diamonds, other blue diamonds,
others black and others white diamonds. God has placed a special kind of
blueprint for each of us that glimmers and glistens within each one of us that
can allow God’s hand to cause it to shine.
Will you allow
your life to be gripped by the hand of God this morning? That's the only
way these four C’s are going to come together and create the jewel that you
are. In doing so, you will “shine like
stars in the universe.”
Terry Risser
Reflections:
1)
Which of the 4 C’s does God want you to see today?
2)
Have you ever felt the pain of a cut but realized God was using it for
His purposes?
Consider reading the Word today:
Copyright 2014- Terry Risser
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