Malachi 3:17, "And they shall be mine, saith the Lord of hosts, in that day when I make up my jewels."
Every saint is a jewel of God. I am convicted by God to look at people (and also my children) in this light. Often we cannot see the jewel as it hides behind the rough exterior. All we see is unsightly hard rock, but God wants us to look beyond what we see on the surface.
We sometimes hear the phrase, "He's a rough diamond." This means that the person is pretty rough on the outside but inside they have a heart of gold. We need to be reminded that there is a diamond, or perhaps a sapphire, an emerald, an opal, a ruby or an amethyst in each person. The jewel in every person is different. Each jewel will reveal different colors and lights of God's character. But we cannot see the beauty shining from the jewel until it has been cut and polished. And what a painful process this is. Much cutting has to be done o reveal the many-faceted hues and beauty of the gem. The cutting goes on and on. And when it is finished, the polishing starts. It hurts.
I know God has to do so much more cutting and polishing with me. May we let Him do His work and cut away all the roughness and hardness. May we also have patience with all God's saints, even those who are still rough and uncut.
May God give us patience with our children. God has given us the task of being a lapidary (a cutter and polisher of gems). It is the lapidary's art to reveal the gem. Sometimes we may feel it is a hopeless job. But we must never give up hope. There is a jewel in every child of God. There is a precious jewel in every one of our children that waits to be revealed. We must see it by faith. We must pray it into being. May God give us vision, patience and understanding as we fulfill this great task. It does not happen over night. It is painstaking and time-consuming.
There will come a day when God will make all His jewels into a crown. I am thinking of the hymn we used to sing as children...
When He cometh, when He cometh
To make up His jewels,
All His jewels, precious jewels,
His loved and His own.
Like the stars of the morning,
His brightness adorning,
They shall shine in their beauty,
Bright gems for His crown
God promises that there will be a day when Israel will sparkle like the jewels of a crown in their land. Although this literally talks about Israel, I believe that God wants His redeemed people to also shine in this world like glittering jewels in a crown. It's time for all the roughness, hardness, mediocrity, worldliness, selfishness and indifference to be cut away and for God's glory to be revealed in the land.
Isaiah 62:3, "Thou shalt also be a crown of glory in the hand of the Lord, and a royal diadem in the hand of thy God."
Zechariah 9:16, "They shall be as the stones of a crown, lifted up as an ensign upon his land." The New Living Translation says, "They will sparkle in his land like jewels in a crown. How wonderful and beautiful they will be!"
Philippians 2:15, "That ye may be blameless and harmless, the sons of God, without rebuke, in the midst of a crooked and perverse nation among whom ye shine as lights in the world."
