DIAMONDS!!!!!

  ‘The Hope Diamond’ photo by Jyothis at Wikimedia Commons CC BY-SA 3.0.

‘Diamonds are a girl’s best friend.’  Actually, the message they contain is a far better friend!
Diamonds are extremely rare!  And extremely beautiful.  You can blame the People of India for first discovering and mining diamonds 6000 years ago! Diamonds are formed deep in the earth from carbon under intense heat and pressure and carried to the surface by volcanic activity.  

According to the American Gem Society, the majority of diamonds are 1 to 3 BILLION years old.  The most expensive diamond in the world is a blue diamond, only ¾ inches wide, called the ‘Hope Diamond’ (see photo above) valued at $350 million dollars.  You can see it at the Smithsonian Museum of Natural History where it is on display.

Are you a ‘Diamond in the rough?’
(Someone who appears ordinary or unrefined but has hidden exceptional qualities or potential).  I think we all are!  To become as beautiful as a diamond we have to be put under ‘intense heat and pressure, cut, shaped and polished.   Is that you?  Can you think of any biblical characters who fit that description?  How about Joseph whose brothers sold him as a slave and who was unjustly accused and thrown in prison!  I’m sure he felt the heat and pressure yet he continued to trust God and became a ruler over Egypt second only to the Pharoah!!!!!

Consider Moses!
He was raised in the Egyptian Court!  Due to certain circumstances, he was exiled to the desert. From the Egyptian Court to the desert?  Think he felt pressure to just survive???
His diamond was forming.  God pursued Him appearing in a BURNING BUSH!!!  He became the deliverer of the Israelites from slavery in Egypt, was given the Ten Commandments and the responsibility to teach their significance to the Israelites.   He led them through the parted Red Sea!  He is revered as one of the greatest Hebrew prophets, leader and teacher. 

Then there is Saul of Tarsus, later to be known as Paul the Apostle!  Here he was persecuting Christians.  God in His mercy knocked him off his horse with a ‘blinding light’ and hearing a voice say to him, ‘Saul, Saul why do you persecute me?  He responded with the question, ‘Who are you LORD?’  Acts 9:4-6.  He became a Christian!  He wrote 13 of the 27 books of the New Testament.  His mission resulted in the widespread conversion of the Gentiles.

These men truly became diamonds!  How is that possible?  God is in the diamond business!!!!! He can see the diamond in you when no one else can!  ‘The Lord does not look at the things people look at.  People look at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart.’  1 Samuel 16:7.  
And He gave us a promise!  He said, ‘I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.’  
Jeremiah 29:11.
And as the Apostle Paul reassured us!  He said, we can be ‘confident of this, that He who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.’  Philippians 1:6.

God won’t stop chipping and polishing you!  Will you let Him?

YOUR DIAMOND AWAITS COMPLETION!