For Christians- Are You a Gem or An Abrasive?
If You Are a Christian, YOU Are a Diamond.
Which kind are you?
When diamonds are found they are usually rough and not pretty. They are dull, ugly in most cases and most people would take them for just another rock.
Once they are found they are taken to the diamond cutter who looks at them and for the ones he receives he makes a plan. Only 30% of diamonds found are of gem quality. The others find use as industrial abrasives because they are the hardest natural element. Then he marks them, chisels away
some parts, breaks off some pieces. Once he has shaped them comes the tedious part, now he must polish them before they can be put on display for all to see. Since they are so hard it takes time and a lot of work to polish them to the necessary high luster required of a gem quality diamond.
We also are diamonds in the rough. Many of us would be overlooked in the search as too ugly to be a diamond and certainly not of gem quality. But our diamond cutter sees us as what we can be and not as we are. Unlike the non-living diamond which has no choice we all have the potential to be of Gem quality, we have a free will and can decide whether to be changed into gems or just be abrasives.
Our diamond cutter also has plan for those HE receives. As the natural diamond cutter only receives those diamonds that meet his qualifications, so our diamond cutter only receives those that will meet His qualifications. Stones that He is able to cut and chisel, that are willing to be broken before Him, reshaped and polished. We must understand that His desire for us is similar to the natural diamond cutter for his stones, to change us for the better, make us more valuable, into all we have the potential to be, to bless and make us a blessing to Him and others.
Only if we trust Him as the expert can He shape us and polish us to shine before the world. We must understand that there are parts that must be chiseled off and thrown away, others that must be shaped and lastly come the time and energy consuming polishing that is necessary for us to shine for to the world. Many of the little pieces that must be cut away are pieces we do not want to let go of, others we feel we must keep to maintain our individuality, in other words there are some parts we do not want to lose, but we must trust Him we must as He cuts away the ugly parts, and shapes and then polishes us to make us fit for His purposes.
Are you willing to be a gem quality diamond or an industrial diamond? Are you capable of being cut, broken and shaped into a precious gem more valuable than gold or are you so hard you are incapable of being cut and shaped into a gem and destined to be just an industrial abrasive that is broken into pieces but never shaped and polished.
You have a choice, choose wisely.
