A raw diamond before the jewel cutter does his thing
What do you mean I didn't just blow your mind!? You mean you've been told this before?
Ah crap I thought I was onto something here........
Yes we have all been told we are special, unique. Sometimes by parents who say thank goodness there is only one of you. Sometimes we hear it so much that we shrug it off. Yeah so what I'm unique. what does that really mean?
It just kind of hit me today while driving and thinking. An analogy that I just had to share. I was thinking about how as Christians we are to shine God's light. Matthew 5:16 In the same way, let your light shine before men, that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in heaven.
Now that's all well and good. So we are unique and we are to shine God's light to glorify Him. Awesome. Then suddenly like a baseball bat with peanut butter on it, it hit me.
We are very much like diamonds! Shiny and sharp!
I know it sounds cute, like something on a hallmark card. But think about it. Diamonds don't initially look like what we see in the store. They are rough at first. Each one is unique, maybe a little raw but light still shines through them.. Let's say then that we are the diamonds and that the light that shines through us is God. If no single diamond is the same than neither then is the way the light shines through them. In that way he wants to use our uniqueness.. Yes I promise you that being unique is not by any means a mistake on God's part. Even though sometimes the world wants to fashion us all into the same shape and have us all shine the same light. It tries to convince us to hate our uniqueness. We don't want to stand out. What an evil thing to convince someone that the physical, spiritual and mental shape they are is anything short of a miracle.
Just like diamonds that each channel light in a slightly different way we each do the same thing for God's light. So yes you are unique, nothing new there. But that uniqueness means you have a special perspective on God. A way to share him that no one has ever or will ever have again.
And that's just the beginning. The journey ain't over for you there my rough diamond friends.
The other amazing thing is that once a diamond is found it is then taken by a Jewel cutter to be turned into an even more magnificent jewel. One that will show light in a way that nothing else can. It makes it more clear and yet still keeps it unique. Could we look at the jewel cutter as God.
Ephesians 2:10
For we are God's workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.
Yes we are over our lives shaped and formed by God to then shine his light in the fullest way possible. With clarity and after the removal of all the dirt and dust the world puts on us. In the most unique way possible he wants us to shine. I looked into diamond cutting and learned a bit. For example; The diamond cutting process includes these steps; planning, cleaving or sawing, bruting, polishing, and final inspection.
It's so amazing how sometimes God speaks through the simplest things. I looked at these steps and realized again it is very much what God does for us.
Planning; Jeremiah 29:11 For 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. God has put a lot of planning into each and every one of us. There is nothing that has happened or will happen to you that God has not taken into account.
Cleaving or sawing (Shaping); Jeremiah 18- 1: 6 This is the word that came to Jeremiah from the Lord: “Go down to the potter’s house, and there I will give you my message.” So I went down to the potter’s house, and I saw him working at the wheel. But
the pot he was shaping from the clay was marred in his hands; so the
potter formed it into another pot, shaping it as seemed best to him.
Then the word of the Lord came to me. He said, “Can I not do with you, Israel, as this potter does?” declares the Lord. “Like clay in the hand of the potter, so are you in my hand, Israel. So yes God is talking about Isreal but how different is it for each and every one of us. God is the potter, the creator. He and only he is the one with the plans and because of that the only one who knows how to properly shape you. Sometimes in order to start to take shape things need to be stripped away from us. This can be painful and can cause us longing for the change to stop. Trust in God. Bruting; Bruting was interesting. I had never heard of it before. It means continuing to shape the diamond but this time against another diamond. Like God uses us in fellowship with others to shape us more and more. There are some things we learn that can only be learned from others. We need to listen and always be willing to take advice, God may be shaping us further. In this way we are to serve one another to continue encouraging in each other this shaping by God.
Galatians 5:13 For you were called to freedom, brethren; only do not turn your freedom into an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another.
Polishing; I couldn't immediately find a bible verse that directly talks about polishing but this one is pretty clear, no pun intended. God continues to bring forth the full brilliance of his light through us. He has made his cuts. Some of these being painful and scary and now he wants to make us even more clear and clean. He wants to make us as clear as possible to let as much of his pure light through unhindered by our own dirty surfaces ie: Pride, forgiveness, hate and all the things that inhibit his light.
Final inspection; Psalms 74:6-7 For not from the east or from the west and not from the wilderness comes lifting up, but it is God who executes judgment, putting down one and lifting up another.
Once God has done all his work with us it is then when our life here on earth is finished that he will look at how we shined his light. He is the only one able to judge and knows what colors he intended to come through us.
We can also be assured that we will not be left an unfinished jewel by our Father.
Philippians 1:6 being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.
Okay so this covered more than I intended. I just wanted to say we are unique and that we each shine God's light in a unique way, a way that God intended, a way we should be proud of, all your little idiosyncrasies, the things you may hate about yourself, these are all things God is working on, polishing, and reshaping so that you will shine the purist form of his light possible . We are all crafted by the hands of God and he will shine his light on us. Through the unique ridges and cuts he has formed in us will come the revelation of God's light from unique angles.
A finished diamond now shining all the colors from the light spectrum
