TITLE: The Uncut Diamond By Ann Wilds 10/27/10 |
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The stones in my wedding band didn’t begin life as glittering diamonds. They were once lumps of ebony coal. Under the right conditions of pressure and temperature, they were transformed into diamonds. But that was just a beginning. Uncut diamonds, while an improvement over lumps of coal, are still unremarkable, a long way from the sparkling beauties in my wedding band. Each uncut diamond had to go under the skilled hand of a jeweler. He began with a rough-cut, chipping away the most obvious flaws. Bit by bit he took great care to cut away pieces. When he was done, what was left would flash with fire as light rays reflected through its many facets. His cuts were not random but precisely made and planned even before he made the first one. The only word fitting the finished product is brilliant.
We begin life much like a diamond. Our souls are dark like coal with the sin of a life lived in separation from God. When we give our life to Him, accepting the gift of salvation through Jesus, we are transformed just as the coal is. Yet we too are works in progress as the Master Jeweler chips away at the flaws still within. Using His master plan He works to reveal the person He created us to be. The tools He uses are varied; scripture, conviction by the Holy Spirit, and even trials of life. He works little by little until the flaws and imperfections break away. But unlike the coal and the uncut diamond, it is up to us to allow Him to complete the work in us. We are each given free-will. He will never force His way upon us. We must surrender ourselves and every flaw.
When we first start our walk with Him, we are like uncut diamonds receiving our rough-cut. We start to shine some of His light. But the sin nature that remains inside does not allow all of His light to shine through. We must surrender every part of ourselves to receive the finished brilliant-cut. Our sin can not be cut away while we continue to hold on to it. Sometimes we surrender a sin in part, thus only the surrendered piece is cut away. The rest remains. That is why we deal with the same issues over and over. Having not yet fully surrendered them, they can not be completely cut away.
The deeper our walk with Him, the more He reveals the layers of our sin nature to us. Not to condemn us, for Jesus’ death covered all of our sin, but to ask us to surrender it to Him. It will cease to cling to us only through His strength. The cutting process is often painful as He chips away at the ugliness that remains. But He is always there beside us, loving us through the hurt. The more He perfects His work in us the more brilliantly we reflect the Son to the world.
Sometimes I shine brightly with the love of God and clearly show His light to the world. But there are many more times, I am saddened to say, when I don’t. The light strikes a flaw, a sin, in me that I have not fully surrendered to the cutting tool. The light is unable to shine through me; the world sees instead the ugliness that remains within. I do not want to remain His flawed creation so daily I must surrender and willingly place all of myself under the hand of the Master Jeweler. I long for the day when all that will be seen in me is the light of Jesus. But until that time, be patient with me for God isn’t finished with me yet. I’m still a flawed and rough-cut diamond.
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