The Hope Diamond

“Ascribe to the LORD the glory due his name; worship the LORD in the splendor of is holiness.” Psalm 29:2.

Holiness means “to be extraordinary; to be above and independent of.” God’s holiness means that He is uniquely set apart from the rest of His creation. God is separate from all that is sinful and also separate from the finite and created. He is exceptionally uncommon. Holiness indicates that God is exceedingly “different” and “special.” Finally, the word holy means illustrious. Holiness is inherently brilliant, dazzling, and magnificent. To be holy is to be spectacularly unique.

The Hope Diamond comes to mind when thinking of this description. This was a stone that was set apart from all others because of its expansive size, it invaluable worth and its amazing beauty. For centuries this dazzling one of a kind has been sought after by kings, re-cut to enhance its beauty and coveted by many. In 1642 a man by the name of Jean Baptiste Tavernier, a French jeweler who traveled extensively, visited India and bought a 112 3/16 carat blue diamond. (This diamond was much larger than the present weight of the Hope diamond because the Hope has been cut down at least twice in the past three centuries.) The diamond is believed to have come from the Kollur mine in Golconda, India. In 1673, King Louis XIV decided to re-cut the diamond to enhance its brilliance (the previous cut had been to enhance size and not brilliance).

Our Holy God desires each of us to pursue a life of holiness, a life set apart and unique. Our pursuit of holiness requires His hand upon our lives to re-cut, sharpen and polish just as several owners of the Hope Diamond have in the past. We all begin as God’s creation and through His holiness and our desire to be more Christ-like we begin to take on the reflection of His holiness as He removes the “flaws in the stone”. Our flaws may not be visible to the naked eye but God uses His spiritual “jeweler’s glass” to identify the areas in our lives that are flawed and cuts away the areas to enhance our beauty.

We are all diamonds in the rough but through allowing our Holy God access to our flaws we can be more closely aligned with His holiness.

We are all Hope Diamonds and invaluable in hands of God.