Struggles and Diamonds

            As long as I am in this body, I think I am destined to struggle.  It occurs to me that the measure of a true saint is not that he has no struggles, but that he continues to honor God in the midst of them.  I mean, look at the heroes of the faith:  David, Abraham, Jeremiah, Paul, Peter, and the list in Hebrews.  Certainly they suffered and struggled against the flesh.  Certainly they had their moments of weakness and failure.  Yet still they serve to inspire us.

            But would they be so inspirational if they hadn't struggled?  I think what draws us to them is that they were so human.  They weren't some transcended spiritual beings who deigned to grace the earth with their presence.  They were flesh and blood men and women with real hopes, real fears, real weaknesses, real failures, and real triumphs.

            In our unwillingness to expose our faults and weaknesses to others, in our attempts to appear as though we have it all together, how much of the power of our testimony do we forfeit?  How many are there who may have been inspired by the way God has worked in our lives through our failures, who turn from the faith discouraged because they think there is nobody else who would understand, nobody else who has the same struggle?

            This is Satan's strategy.  Divide and conquer.  He whispers to our pride and convinces us that we dare not appear weak.  Doubt, struggles and failure are all signs of a weak faith, perhaps even pointing to an absence of real faith in the first place.  Are you sure you're saved?  Even the prophet Nathan failed.  He advised David to build the Temple without first consulting God.

            When a jeweler begins cutting a diamond, he starts with a lump of rock that is not very impressive to behold.  But gradually, through his skill with the hammer, facets begin to appear that capture the light and display its brilliance.

            In this life, we are lumps of rock that God is working on with the hammer of His will.  As we submit to the blows of this hammer, our pride and disobedience are chipped away, and facets begin to appear in us that display our radiance.  But this side of glory, the transformation will never be complete.  There will always be parts of us that are still just lumps of rock.

            But we try to hide this aspect of ourselves, and only show off the finished facets.  We carefully align ourselves so that our facets reflect the light in such a way as to blind those looking at us, so that they will be unable to see that part of us that has yet to submit to God's will.

            To do this is to deny God His greatest glory:  the fact that He can take a lump like us and turn it into something beautiful and wonderful.  It also gives others around us who may desperately need encouragement in the midst of their struggles the false impression that God can only use people who have it all together.  For because of our pride, they will be unaware of our trials and failures.

Kevin Ness

The gem cannot be polished without friction, nor man perfected without trials.
- -- Chinese proverb