"Fancy cut diamonds" by Paul Noillimrev - Own work. Licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0 via Wikimedia Commons - http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Fancy_cut_diamonds.jpg#mediaviewer/File:Fancy_cut_diamonds.jpg
There are 2 ways to shine a stone. One by polishing and the other by cuts. A polished stone smoothens the surface of the material and thus reflects light that shines on it. Careful multiple clean cuts make stone glitters because of the multiple facets created, which reflect lights in different directions. Glittering stone catches attention.
The Christian Spiritual Journey encompasses a community. The church is the community. Personal growth is similar to a stone being polished. The person who is refined and shine standing alone is nowhere near to the heart of God. God is looking for the glitters and the glitters can only be found in a community of people. I believe this is why the enemy Satan is breaking up relationships more than anything else.
Observe a diamond, there are sides where nothing shines. Those sides happen to reflect lights, not towards the direction you are looking at. Try turning the diamond and you will soon discover that the facet shines as bright. There are times in the Christian journey when we feel that the community has misplaced priorities that is why the community does not shine. It could be something we learned recently and we feel that the community should focus on that learning and things will take certain turns to the bright side. Every growing disciple will reach this juncture at some point in time. These are times we are polished. It means that we got to shine in that facet. The rest are polished in other ways and they will shine in their facet. Try looking from another angle and we will discover the many areas that our community is shining brightly. Discovering this will help us appreciate the fact that we are but one facet of the same precious stone. That is what makes the stone (us) unique and precious.
The Bible Sum this up beautifully in
Ephesians 4.
11 And he gave some, apostles; and some, prophets; and some, evangelists; and some, pastors and teachers;
12 For the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ:
13 Till we all come in the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ:
May we believe that God works in the people around you. May we believe in being polished. After all that, may we opt for glitters.
"Fancy cut diamonds" by Paul Noillimrev - Own work. Licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0 via Wikimedia Commons - http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Fancy_cut_diamonds.jpg#mediaviewer/File:Fancy_cut_diamonds.jpg
There are 2 ways to shine a stone. One by polishing and the other by cuts. A polished stone smoothens the surface of the material and thus reflects light that shines on it. Careful multiple clean cuts make stone glitters because of the multiple facets created, which reflect lights in different directions. Glittering stone catches attention.
The Christian Spiritual Journey encompasses a community. The church is the community. Personal growth is similar to a stone being polished. The person who is refined and shine standing alone is nowhere near to the heart of God. God is looking for the glitters and the glitters can only be found in a community of people. I believe this is why the enemy Satan is breaking up relationships more than anything else.
Observe a diamond, there are sides where nothing shines. Those sides happen to reflect lights, not towards the direction you are looking at. Try turning the diamond and you will soon discover that the facet shines as bright. There are times in the Christian journey when we feel that the community has misplaced priorities that is why the community does not shine. It could be something we learned recently and we feel that the community should focus on that learning and things will take certain turns to the bright side. Every growing disciple will reach this juncture at some point in time. These are times we are polished. It means that we got to shine in that facet. The rest are polished in other ways and they will shine in their facet. Try looking from another angle and we will discover the many areas that our community is shining brightly. Discovering this will help us appreciate the fact that we are but one facet of the same precious stone. That is what makes the stone (us) unique and precious.
The Bible Sum this up beautifully in Ephesians 4.
11 And he gave some, apostles; and some, prophets; and some, evangelists; and some, pastors and teachers;
12 For the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ:
13 Till we all come in the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ: