On The Cutting Edge

T

he country of South Africa, for a gemologist, is synonymous with the world's most precious stone, diamonds.  Some of the world's purest and most valuable diamonds come from the diamond mines scattered throughout the country.  Dealers and wholesalers in diamonds come to South Africa from all over the world, looking for that perfect stone which will ultimately become a beautiful necklace, brooch, bracelet, or, more likely, the center piece for a woman's most prized possession, an engagement ring.

But diamonds don't start out all sparkle and fire.  Instead, they are to be found in mines deep in the belly of the earth.  In order to find one diamond, tons of earth must be drilled, scooped, loaded, excavated, sifted, washed, and broken.  The expert eye searches for lumps of coal concealing diamonds inside.  These rocks have been formed by intense pressure over centuries or millennia, waiting for someone to discover their value. 

Once discovered, however, the diamond must undergo several steps before it takes the form of the precious and costly jewels everyone searches so ardently desires.  The work of preparing the diamond for its transformation lies in the skilled hands of a lapidary, someone who studies and produces valuable gems from their rough state.  The experienced lapidary takes the diamond, which is scarred, dirty, and oddly shaped, and begins to study it, to understand its structure and form.  He will spend time with that diamond, learning its flaws, its weak points, its cracks, and its scuffs.  All this information is necessary as the gemologist slowly and methodically works toward producing a precious stone of great value.

After polishing, smoothing, and shining the diamond, it is now ready for the most important step in its transformation.  The lapidary places it into a holder and tightens the clamps.  He examines the stone repeatedly, making diagrams and sketches from different angles so that no part of the stone is left unstudied.  Then with a steady and confident hand, he takes a hammer and a chisel, places them on the exact spot on the surface of the diamond, and with one clean strike, he cuts the stone.  He continues this process until he has removed all parts of the diamond hiding and obscuring the valuable stone inside.  The entire diamond is not as valuable as the stone the lapidary sees inside at its heart.  He knows that the value of the diamond lies in the cut, in removing the unnecessary so that the essential can shine through.  From a chunk of rock, he brings forth that which did not exist prior to his cutting, a valuable and precious gem.

In Romans 4:17, Paul writes, "God, who gives life to the dead and calls those things which do not exist as though they did."  Do you realize that God sees you as a diamond having infinitely great value?  Too often we, as Christians, forget or just don't realize how valuable we are to God.  Like diamonds in the rough, God sees the inherent value locked inside the human heart.  He knows that to unlock value, we must be shaped, polished, buffed, shined, and yes, cut.  Sometimes the cuts are deep, but God knows that the true value lies in the cuts.  He is only interested in the heart, our deepest and most precious part. 

God studies our hearts. He knows their flaws, their weaknesses, and their cracks.  He understands us from every angle, from every thought we have to every word we speak.  He has drawn diagrams of our hearts from every conceivable vantage point and he sees the value inside each one of us.  That is why he puts us on His table, tightens down the clamps, takes His hammer and His chisel, and cuts away everything that keeps us from shining forth and reflecting the value we have as His children.  So precious are we to Him, that God will not entrust this process to any hand other than His! 

When you feel the deep cutting of the chisel in your life, know that the hand behind the hammer and chisel is none other than God's.  He will only strike necessary blows and will only remove those parts of our lives that are keeping us from being all He wants us to be.  Don't be afraid of the chisel's blows for they are the evidence that you are being perfected and conformed to the image of Jesus Christ. Can you hear the sound of metal on metal today?  Yield to it and become the diamond God knows you can be!