Disclaimer:
If you’re still conforming to worldly values and activities, this post won’t be for you. If you’re still idolizing money, fame, drugs, sex, and most of all yourself, this post won’t be for you. If you still refuse to dedicate your life fully and solely to Christ, this post won’t be for you.
Those who strive to live a life that glorifies God in every aspect often come against things that they can’t comprehend. Why do I feel so lonely? Why does it feel like the ungodly are prospering? Why can’t I satisfy my lusts like them? Why can’t I hang at the same spots and have the same friends? I’m living a life fully devoted to Christ, and while I love Christ and love living for Him, my flesh still hungers for those things. Why can’t I have them?
To those people, I pose this question:
Say you’re a jewelry lover (this may not be too far-fetched for some of you). You purchase loads of jewelry per year. This isn’t expensive jewelry, as you’re not exactly a millionaire, but it’s nice-looking jewelry that you can get from the mall for under $100. And boy do you have tons of it.
But one day, someone close to you, who has taken note of your love for jewelry, finds it in their heart to bless you with a diamond that is near and precious to them. This diamond is certainly not the equivalent of the $100 stuff you purchase at the mall. No, this diamond wouldn’t even be found near a mall. This thing is real, it’s rare, and according to the person giving it to you, it’s worth over $500,000!
Now, they could be lying…but one look at the diamond and the way it glows with elegance lets you know that they’re not. In fact, they may be underestimating!
When you arrive home, do you simply toss this diamond into the jewelry box with the rest of the cheap, and probably fake, stuff? Of course not! That stuff is so generic and typical. While you still love them, they simply cannot compare to this brand new, multi-dollar gem you have now received. Oh no, this gem can’t simply be tossed in with rest. This one has to be preserved, it has to receive special care and treatment, and most importantly, it can’t be thrown in with the cheap jewelry because it could become contaminated and therefore lose it’s value. This diamond only receives the best.
Often times, I think this is how God views those whom are fully devoted and are desperately striving to live for Him. He won’t allow them to hang out with those who are stuck in sin and a reprobate mindset, because they (the devoted ones) could become contaminated and are far too valuable to Him for Him to even risk that.
He won’t allow them to engage in the same things as those who have rejected Him and His desire to live in them, because he values those who live fully for Him too much. He realizes the vanity, meaninglessness, and negative effects of those activities, and therefore keeps those who belong to Him from them. They’re too valuable.
We, as gems, often times don’t realize this. We look at the world, what their doing, and the ‘fun’ that we presume that they are having, and we lust after it. We don’t realize that what we are lusting for is fake and cheap. We don’t realize that God views those who belong to Him as gems who are only permitted to receive the best. Sinful friends, sinful activities, sinful occupations, sinful characteristics – those things are too cheap and generic. For these gems He values, God only desires the best. The TRUE friends, the RIGHTEOUS activities (that won’t kill you, have you feeling guilty, or cause you to be a bum), the PROSPEROUS occupations, and the CHRIST-LIKE characteristics.
ONLY the best.
Don’t lust after the cheap, generic jewelry called the world. Remember that God views you as a Gem only worthy of the best, and therefore won’t allow you to be contaminated by them and the wicked activities they live for. And if their is anyone who is strong, mighty, and sovereign enough to give you the best, it’s our God. You know…the same God who is so majestic that He has to swear to himself because there is no higher power? Yeah, Him.
Oh, and remember this too:
“Those sinners are filthy foam on the surface of the water. And so, their fields and vineyards will fall under a curse and won’t produce. Just as the heat of summer swallows the snow, the world of the dead swallows those who sin. Forgotten here on earth, and with their power broken, they taste sweet to worms. Sinners take advantage of widows and other helpless women. But God’s mighty strength destroys those in power. Even if they seem successful, they are doomed to fail. God may let them feel secure, but they are never out of his sight. Great for a while; gone forever! Sinners are mowed down like weeds, then they wither and die. If I haven’t spoken the truth, then prove me wrong.” - Job 24:18-25 (Contemporary English Version).
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