Do you know how diamonds are made? What we see in a polished diamond barely resembles what we get out of the ground. When mined, diamonds look like an ugly chunk of glass embedded in a cross-section of rock. The rough diamond is then extracted from the rock and is cut and polished. This goes on to create the beautiful stones that we see in the stores.
Before we became Christians, we were like the raw diamond. When mining for diamonds, you have to knock-off the dirt to get to the diamond. Once the dirt is knocked-off, there is the rough diamond, all kinds of ugly.
What do you think the phrase diamond in the rough mean? This phrase is used when someone refers to a person who has exceptional hidden characteristics and future potential, but currently lacks the final touches or finesse that would make him or her stand out from the crowd. In other words, they have potential, but they need the finishing touches to complete the package. God knows that all of us have tremendous potential. We are all different, just like diamonds are shaped into many different designs. God sees the ultimate product of what we can become.
Before I gave my life to Christ, I was just a clump of dirt and clay wrapped in sin. I was filthy and dirty, unable to see where I was going. I was totally and completely in the dark, caught-up in worldly living, and made bad choices. Nobody would have known or identified me as a resemblance of a diamond. My sinful ways was suffocating me. God came along and rescued me. He started chipping away all my imperfections, to reveal facets that I would never have thought possible. He grind away the flaws of my character to polish my surfaces. He help me identity my weaknesses, through many trials, but He never allowed me to break. I came very close, but He was always there. “My brethren, count it all joy when you fall into various trials. Knowing that the testing of your faith produces patience. But let patience have its perfect work, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking nothing.” (James 1:2-4)
The similarity of the shaping of a diamond is like the shaping of a Christian. Just like the diamond, we as Christian, before we can become beautiful jewels, we must be cut and polished by Jesus’ hand, using steel or diamond blades or lasers. Then the cut diamond (Christians) is then polished by a rotating wheel coated with an abrasive diamond powder (the Holy Spirit). Each one of God’s children was a “diamond in the rough.“ Embedded within each person, is diamond qualities just waiting to be mined, bringing joy to our heavenly Father. Each one of us must endure the pressure, the cutting, and the polishing of Jesus, who is The Master Jeweler. He brings out the diamond within us.
God’s purpose is to refine and perfect us. He will use whatever means necessary to bring us to the point of being the perfect man or woman, in the fullness of Jesus Christ. The more we come under the sharp edge of God’s Word, and allow the Holy Spirit to pierce and shape us, the more valuable we will be in His kingdom. We must be holy without blemish, just like the flawless diamond, because the flawless diamond reflects light. We are the light of the world. God’s diamonds will be judged, not by our exterior, but by the quality of our interior, our character.
Our character is developed, not inherited. It cannot be bought. It cannot be earned. It is the willingness to endure The Master Jeweler, Jesus, refining process. This is the process that shapes and refines us from being a “diamond in the rough” to become a beautiful sparkling jewel, a DIAMOND.
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