Most people love diamonds. The bigger the better. The more they sparkle, the better they are. Even Marilyn Monroe sang a song entitled, “Diamonds are a Girl’s Best Friend.” Yes, diamonds are beautiful with all the dazzle and glitter. So what makes a diamond so beautiful? Well just this, all of the cuts they make to let the light shine through. They are called facets. The more facets, the more glitter, because of the angle in which the light hits it. The real question is how or what makes a diamond a diamond? A diamond is nothing more than carbon. Yes, today we do not like the word carbon, it’s not a green word. But this is how diamonds are created. You have to take carbon and place it under pressure along with intense heat. Of course this takes many years, but then anything of any value takes years to develop. We are all like those diamonds in many ways. But we first must start at the beginning and in the beginning, we are like the carbon. We wonder why we go through things in life that may be hard or difficult. Well, that is because God is making us into diamonds. It is through our trials that we begin to shine. Every trial is like a facet, a cut, that will allow the light to shine in us.
The Apostle James writes this, “Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness. And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.” (James 1:2-3)
The Apostle Peter says this, “In all this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials. These have come so that the proven genuineness of your faith—of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire—may result in praise, glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed.” (1 Peter 1:6-7)
The Apostle Paul says, “We also glory in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope. And hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, who has been given to us.” (Romans 5:3-5)
The pressures of our trial and the cuts even to our hearts are so that we may go from carbon to diamonds and from the dullness of heart to light shining deep within us. Eric Clapton’s song “Diamonds Made From Rain” speaks of this very transformation in our lives. “Every stone that I have turned. Each forgiveness I have earned. Every shame that’s taught me grace, from you I have learned. That everything is shown to me, I let it wash over me, like diamonds made of rain. You can find joy inside the pain. Everything that I’ve endured for the wisdom of a pearl I wouldn’t change a thing. You can make diamonds from the rain.”
What a great song! God wants you to shine and have great value. Won’t you let Him make you into a diamond?