Day 15: Precious stone

Picture

Song:  Dave Bryant (1978)

Jesus, take me as I am, I can come no other way,

Take me deeper into You, Make my flesh life melt away. 

Make me like a precious stone, crystal clear and finely honed. 

Light of Jesus shining through, giving glory back to You.

Thought

I am using a song today that has been on my mind for the last couple of days.  I love this song and the concept of being a sparling jewel.

Think of a diamond and how it is formed.   It starts off as a lump of coal buried deep in the the dirt of the earth.  Under extreme heat or pressure, it slowly crystallises until if forms the diamond.  Diamonds are the hardest substance known to man.  But if you put a diamond in the hands of an amateur jeweller, he can turn it into worthless stone by chipping off the wrong bits or striking it in the wrong place and shattering the stone. But, if you hand this raw diamond to an expert jeweler, he will cut and polish it with extreme skill and care.  And the end product will be a diamond that shines with amazing brilliance and sparkle. He will find the most beautiful diamond within that raw stone and cut many facets to add to it's brilliance.

The words of the song ask us to be prepared for God to gently cut and polish us.  

If you take a lump of coal and carefully cut and polish it, shaping it like a diamond, you will still only have a prettily cut lump of dirty, black coal.  

We may have to suffer great pressures and heat of life to become the rough diamond that God can then take to cut and polish.  He can produce the diamond that will sparkle with His light and truly reflect His beauty.  And the more facets the diamond has the greater the sparkle.  Be prepared to shine in every facet of your life.

God knows our limits and He will not allow us to be tested or tempted beyond what we can endure. Sometimes it feels like He has taken us way beyond what we can handle; yet if we focus on Him, lean on Him and trust Him absolutely, He will strengthen us.
To Him we are more precious than the most beautiful diamonds, and He wants to bring out the greatest beauty in us.

Prayer

Lord God, please help me be the diamond you want me to be.  Let me work with you to shave off the rough edges and polish up the true beauty within.  Lord shine through me.  Let all facets of my life reflect Your glory.