Reflections of Himself

January 13

Do you know that people are like diamonds? Yes, they are.

Do you know that if you saw a raw diamond lying on the ground you might not bother to bend over to pick it up because it would look pretty much like an ordinary rock?

Not many people have ordinary rocks stored away in vaults or stashed in their jewelry boxes or dangling from chains around their necks, but that’s what LOTS of people do with diamonds! So what happens? How do drab-appearing rocks become the precious gems that everyone values?

First, it takes a trained eye to spot them…someone who can tell that they aren’t just stones lying on the ground with all the other stones. Then it takes someone with great skill and patience to take them in hand and to use the proper tools and expertise to cut and facet them.

In the wrong hands, too much of the stone, or the wrong parts of the stone might be cut away, lessening its ultimate value. In expert hands, the stone will be cut and faceted to maximize the stone’s intrinsic beauty and worth. Next, the stone will be polished and brought to the luster we so admire when we gaze upon it in a necklace or a ring.

When it’s ready for mounting, the craftsman who cut the stone won’t trust it to just any jeweler…he will assure that the diamond he has skillfully brought out of its hiding place will be mounted into the perfect setting that maximizes its beauty.

The jeweler who offers it for sale doesn’t set it down just anywhere in his shop. No! He makes sure the backdrop compliments it. He doesn’t want the backdrop to compete with the jewel for attention but to display it in a way to take full advantage of its luster and sparkle and design.

Because everyone involved in the transformation of gemstone-quality diamonds from mere rocks to amazing treasures is excellent at his job, the result is exquisite jewelry that many people greatly admire and pay quite handsomely to obtain.

So how does any of this apply to people?

People, too, start out rather ordinary. They can be rough and quite imperfect. The untrained eye looking at them will see people who are rude or impolite or loud or selfish or careless in their words or actions. They will see individuals who lie or scheme or are unconcerned about anyone but themselves. To those with untrained eyes, people are like ordinary rocks…easy to ignore, to step over, and walk away from.

But someone who can see…really SEE…can detect the uniqueness of each individual. And that someone knows what people need to enable their finest inner gifts to emerge from the ordinariness of their appearance.

The trained individual will recognize that someone who is willing to channel his energy into positive goals will ultimately shine like a bright jewel in the jewelry store.

The trained individual will help him to see the importance of the small things that are easily overlooked. The trained individual will encourage him to be attentive to those small things as well as to the big things that will set him apart as unique and precious.

The trained person will help him to be the person who uses his mind to achieve worthwhile goals by paying attention to little things that seem insignificant to others, just as the master jewel cutter always cuts the raw diamond to its perfect advantage in the smallest detail.

The trained expert will help him to “Do all things as unto the Lord,” as it says in­­­­ Colossians 3:23. He will help him to see that taking care of little things, and assuming small responsibilities, will help prepare him for later things that will not be little things.

There are a lot of human experts who think they have good ideas about how people should develop their potential, but the main EXPERT is JESUS, and He wants the best for every person who has ever been born.

Jesus paid attention to the smallest details of life—learning the trade of carpentry in Joseph’s workshop, knowing the best way to catch fish, understanding the intricacies of men’s hearts and minds—so when it came time for Him to fulfill the BIG THING for which He came, the plan of salvation that was established before the world began (Revelation 13:8), He was able to conclude it successfully…and anyone who believes can be saved for eternity because He did.

If Jesus is the GREAT EXPERT who “knows all things” John 21:17-19 and “by Whom all things are made,” John 1:3, shouldn’t we follow His example and get all the things that involve our lives into the kind of order that He valued?

Individuals who do, who stick to doing things right at every opportunity, are the ones who shine like lovely diamonds because they have allowed the Master Jeweler, Jesus, to cut and polish them into wonderful reflections of Himself.