A Diamond of God

Lately, Jesus has been showing me how much He loves me, how He desires to be in charge of my life, and all the areas He can and should control. He is so good, I tell you! Earlier today I was watching a Christian show titled, “Nature Speaks.” I have only seen it a few times, but it truly is an encouraging and edifying show. Today, the speaker was correlating diamonds and the Christian life. I really enjoyed his following points:

1. Diamonds are valued because of their ability to reflect light. Just as a diamond reflects light, so we should reflect the Light of the world, Jesus.   

“Ye are the light of the world. A city that is set on an hill cannot be hid. Neither do men light a candle, and put it under a bushel, but on a candlestick; and it giveth light unto all that are in the house. Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven.” Matthew 5:14-16

When Jesus Christ enters a persons life, light comes and illuminates every dark and secretive corner of the heart. While this examining light hurts for awhile, it is much better to let Jesus clean out every sinful crevice and create peace and joy in your heart, than to go through life full of shame and guilt, eventually lifting your eyes in hell.

 

2. Finally, diamonds are highly valued due to their rarity. Likewise, a genuine Christian who truly has an intimate relationship with God is a rare thing.

 “God wants you, God wants me to develop an intimate relationship with Him. A relationship that is so rare, hard to find in this world. And as we grow spiritually we will discover some rare qualities in our lives that make us stand out and shine brilliantly as diamonds for Christ.” The speaker went on to describe some of those rare, but lovely qualities. “One of those rare qualities is meekness. This is one of the most misunderstood concepts in the Bible. When we think about Moses, the Bible says that he was the meekest who ever lived. But being meek does not mean you are weak, does not mean you are a doormat where people walk on you all the time. But being meek simply means you are in control of your emotions. You do not allow how you feel cloud your judgment and your actions. To be meek is to have incredible restraint of revenge and complete surrender to the will of God. To be meek is a hard thing because we have grown up  in a world that tells us ‘Go out and be what you want to be. You can be anything you want to be. If it feels right it must be right, if it smells right it must be right, if it tastes good it must be good.’ We have grown up in a world that has conditioned us to act based on our feelings.”

  (Hold it. . . Stop! Do you mean that I act on my feelings? Surely not. . .it must be some one else you’re talking about) :)  I have long denied that the “Feel Good” philosophy has had any influence on my life. But as I watched this show I realized that almost EVERYTHING I do is based on my feelings! I clean house based on my feelings. I order my McDonalds coffee (and extra fries) based on my feelings. I even choose my outfits according to my fickle feelings! Even worse, I choose to obey my parents and God based on my feelings! How shameful this is! I do love the Lord and I do desire to obey Him (as long as it does not hurt me). But the moment I feel any self-restraint or pain, well oops! there goes my self-control and Christian ideals! Again I say, how shameful that I should behave this way.

I am so thankful that Jesus allowed me to see this problem in my life. Recently, I had been wondering why my Christian life kept going up, down, and sometimes right of the tracks.  I believe part of that (or most of it) was due to my “feel good” habit I had fallen into. Dear friends, let us seek God’s holy will in our lives in everything!! His way alone brings peace and real joy; willfulness (sin) only brings captivity and death. Let us lay aside our ever-changing feelings and obey God with our whole hearts!! :)

 

“But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, Meekness, temperance: against such there is no law. And they that are Christ's have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts. If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit” Galatians 5:22-25

Finally, I would like to end this long post with two definitions from Webster’s 1828 dictionary (ohh! I just love this dictionary!).

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“Temperance”

1. Moderation; particularly, habitual moderation in regard to the indulgence of the natural appetites and passions; restrained or moderate indulgence; as temperance in eating and drinking; temperance in the indulgence of joy or mirth. Temperance in eating and drinking is opposed to gluttony and drunkenness, and in other indulgences, to excess.

2. Patience; calmness; sedateness; moderation of passion.

He calm'd his wrath with goodly temperance. [Unusual.]

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“Meekness”

Softness of temper; mildness; gentleness; forbearance under injuries and provocations.

1. In an evangelical sense, humility; resignation; submission to the divine will, without murmuring or peevishness; opposed to pride, arrogance and refractoriness. Gal.5.

I beseech you by the meekness of Christ. 1 Cor.10.

Meekness is a grace which Jesus alone inculcated, and which no ancient philosopher seems to have understood or recommended.

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Dear friends, thank you for hanging in during this long post. . . these topics means a lot to me!! :o)

May the LORD bless your weekend!

Frannie

P.S. I found these truthful definitions of meekness and temperance at:  http://1828.mshaffer.com/d/search/word,meekness