You’ve probably heard about the 4 C’s of a diamond and know that it stands for the diamond cut, color, clarity and carat weight. Below we will take a look at these 4 C’s and how they can illustrate Christian Character. Many people over the years have referred to people who have just become Christians, as diamonds in the rough, because of the kind of lives they have lived and the conditions they were in at the time they met the Lord and experienced salvation.
When a diamond is first mined, it looks very rough and chunky. It can look like a chunk of glass embedded in rock. It typically features top and bottom points, as well as a wide middle. Usually, the diamond looks like a square when viewed from the top. Therefore, the analogy of a diamond in the rough and a new Christian’s character can be very apropos.
I copied and pasted in technical information about the 4 C’s of a diamond from the website of the American Gem Society at americangemsociety.org. Reviewing this information will give us the basis to study the 4 C’s of a Christian’s character using the diamond as the illustrative teaching tool. As you read this information, see if you notice how many natural correlations you can spot between diamonds and Christians. I mean after all, they are both creations of God almighty. After reviewing this information, we may never take diamonds for granted again…if we ever did.
For diamonds to become the beautiful and valued gems we see displayed at jewelry stores, they first have to mined from the earth. BUT…before they can be mined, God helps us gain access to them, because they originally come from deep inside the earth.
Diamonds were formed naturally in the earth’s mantle, usually about 100 miles or more below the earth’s surface, when carbon was subjected to extremely high pressures of 725,000 pounds per square inch or more and temperatures are at least 2000 degrees Fahrenheit. Therefore, diamonds are viewed as “exotic”, because of how they were created and where they come from originally.
The critical temperatures and pressures needed for natural diamond formation and stability are found that far below the surface of the earth, where the carbon atoms bond together under the extreme environment, forming diamonds. This is how colored diamonds are created as well. The region where the pressures and temperatures are just right for diamonds to form is called the diamond stability field.
As the carbon atoms are exposed to extremely high temperatures and pressures, it causes them to form a tetrahedral bond, where each carbon atom links to three other carbon atoms. This results in the formation of a strong, rigid lattice structure. The rigidity of the diamond structure does occasionally allow some elements to attach to it such as nitrogen and boron. These same elements not only change the diamond’s chemical structure somewhat, but they can also affect the color of the gem.
Once the diamonds were formed and stored in these limited zones of the deep earth, God delivered them to the earth’s surface through volcanic eruptions. These eruptions tear out pieces of the upper mantle and carry them to the surface. Only volcanoes that erupt from deep depths will cause this to happen…the average volcano does not.
Before these crude diamonds undergo cutting and polishing, they must first be sorted according to grade and quality. Only those that are considered “gem quality” will end up being transformed into beautiful jewelry.
The cutting and polishing of diamonds involves several steps. They need to be sawed, rounded, lopped, and then finished in order to yield the beauty within. How a diamond is cut and adored will depend on a variety of factors, such as clarity and crystallographic orientation.
Like a snowflake, every diamond has a natural pattern telling a different story, and each one is unique. No two are alike. Diamonds have a unique and interesting cubic crystal lattice structure. Each carbon atom in a diamond is strongly bonded to three others, making them the hardest known natural substance.
Diamonds also exhibit high thermal conductivity, are resistant to chemicals, and have an exceptionally high transparency. Every diamond has a combination of characteristics such as inclusion suite, optical defects, trace elements, and other factors beyond the 4 Cs that make it unique as your fingerprint.
Interesting Tibits:
….The history of the engagement ring began in 1215, when Pope Innocent III, one of the most powerful popes of the Middle Ages, declared a waiting period between a betrothal and the marriage ceremony. The rings were used to signify the couple’s commitment in the interim.
….The biggest diamond discovered was the CULLIAN DIAMOND. It weighed 3,106 carats! This massive stone was cut into 9 pieces. Today, three of the remaining pieces can be found in the British Sovereign’s Royal Scepter located in the Tower of London.
….The most expensive diamond ring in the world is the PINK STAR. PINK STAR is made of 59.60-carat pink diamond. In 2017, it was sold at an auction in Hong Kong for $71.2 million US dollars to Chow Tai Fook Enterprises.
….Today, the five largest diamond mines in the world by measurable reserves contain more than one billion carats of recoverable diamonds collectively.
….Just 1% of the world’s diamond sources have economically viable grades of diamond and are worth mining, highlighting how truly rare diamonds are.
So, how do the characteristics of a diamonds relate to the character of a Christian? Remember how a diamond can look very rough and chunky when they first dig it out? It does not look like a beautiful gem. It can look like a chunk of glass embedded in rock. If you were out rock hunting, you may not pay much attention to what might look like a piece of old broken glass mixed inside a rock.
Similarly, you may look at a new Christian during the first year of their Christian life and he or she may look so rough and unmannered or uncultured, lacking in the social or religious graces you are used to seeing in the Sunday morning services at your church.
John Newton’s life(1725 to 1807) before his salvation experience and after his salvation experience is an inspiring example of this. He was a vulgar, drunken, and depraved captain of British slave ships before he met Jesus Christ. After he met Christ, his life slowly, but surely began to change through his growth in the grace of God and he eventually became a Baptist Pastor in England and one of the greatest hymn writers in history. When he wrote the hymn AMAZING GRACE, he was expressing his life’s story, which was the personification of GOD’S GRACE.
They may still be in the process of shedding some of those vices they had in their past life. By the power of grace, they may be learning to speak without the past profanities or vulgarities. Or maybe he or she is learning to walk in moral purity, that they were not accustomed to. They may even be coming out of some level of demonic control. People get saved at (or from) many different levels of human behavior. But…there they are now…like a diamond in the rough…full of Christ-like potential.
God knows what they were and He knows what they will become by His grace and He is pleased. Jeremiah 29:11 says, “For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future”.
Before you and I could become a beautiful and valued Christian gem, we first had to mined. Just as diamonds were created deep below the earth’s surface and had to be providentially brought up to where they could be discovered, you and I as sinners were lost and hidden away…deep in the world. God had to supernaturally use His spiritual volcanic actions to bring us up to the surface, where we could be mined…evangelized by “Christian miners”, who shared the gospel with us and led us to Christ.
Some of us can remember those spiritual and moral volcanic eruptions we had to experience in our lives, as God providentially brought us up from the deep parts of the world and spiritual darkness, where we could be “spiritually mined” by the right person, in the right place, at the right time.
Then, as diamonds in the rough, the Holy Spirit begins the steps of spiritual and moral cutting and polishing to transform us into “gem quality believers”. We are sawed, rounded, lopped, and then finished in order to yield the Christ-like beauty within. Can you look back and remember God internally and externally rounding you and lopping you and then finishing you up to a certain point at different times in your Christian life? Isn’t this the process Paul explained to us in Romans 8:28-30?
And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love Him, who have been called according to His purpose. For those God foreknew, He also predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be the firstborn among many brothers and sisters. And those He predestined, He also called and those He called, He also justified and those He justified, He also glorified.
Next week, we will look at the First “C”(the “Cut”) involved in the work it takes to transform a diamond in the ruff into a bright, shiny, and valued gem. And we will consider what happens to us when God does His “Cut” in our lives.
Thanks again for your precious time!
Gene
Do you have some thoughts, feelings, or questions about what you read today in this specific devotional/commentary?
If you will submit those using the form below, Gene can read them, study them, and reply to them just as soon as possible.
Thank you, Gene. I look forward to the continuation of your article. Great analogy. That I had never thought about.
Margaret Ann +
Margaret Ann,
Thank you for reading it and for reading so quickly. It is really encouraging. It takes time to read these things. They are short 3-5 sentence devotions and so I know people are used to reading so much under the term of a single devotion. It has ended up being more a chapter of a book and next week, you get the next chapter. Anyway, I say that to say how much I value the time you put into the reading/considering/etc…
Gene