I was at the museum one day with my grandson, and while he was more interested in the dinosaur, I found an interesting display about diamonds.
Everyone loves diamonds. According to the song by Carol Channing back in 1949, diamonds are a girl’s best friend and James Bond in 1971 said diamonds are forever. They’re pretty popular and most people are attracted to a piece of jewellery that contains a diamond.
And it’s interesting that we are often attracted to colourful diamonds, but that was the bit of information I particularly noticed at the museum display. You see the purest diamonds are clear, but the colour in diamonds is created by chemical impurities or structural defects.
The Hope Diamond
The Hope Diamond is often described as the most valuable diamond in the world. It is deep blue in colour and is worth up to 250million dollars US. So the colour certainly doesn’t reduce its value, but what makes the difference is the way it is cut and prepared for display.
Now that got me thinking because we often see impurities as being something ugly and unattractive. And of course they are, and when I think about myself I know that any impurities or defects in my life contribute to me being unlikeable.
When the Bible tells us that all the good things we do are like filthy rags, it’s pointing out that the defects in our life – the Bible calls that sin – have the effect of separating us from God.
So how do we fix this problem?
When someone sits down to produce a high quality piece of jewellery they will spend a long time cutting and polishing the diamond and preparing it, so that when you finally get to wear it, it looks perfect.
People come up and notice the diamond and comment on its beauty, to the point that although the colour was caused by impurities, now the diamond is presented as something very beautiful.
When we give all our impurities to Jesus he can take us and cut off all the sharp edges, and design something absolutely beautiful.
The funny thing is that even when we come to Jesus and give him all our impurities and we are assured of being forgiven through what he has done for us when he died on the cross, the defects are still there.
We still seem to make a mess of our life and often get frustrated because things don’t work out the way we would like them. You see, the beautiful colours in the diamond are always there as a reminder of the impurities and defects that were in the original stone. They haven’t been removed but the jeweller has created something beautiful out of that rough stone.
The effect of our sin often stays with us as a reminder, not of what we have done wrong, but how creative the master jeweller has been in dealing with our sin and creating an opportunity for us to grow.
It’s a reminder that no matter how hard we tried, we were never able to solve the sin problem, but through the grace of God we are no longer condemned by it.
Diamonds are a girl’s best friend. I’m glad that Jesus is my best friend and that he’s making changes in my life. Jesus can be your best friend too.
This post was the transcript of a message you can hear on Sonshine fm 98.5 on Sunday mornings.
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