The Divine Gemologist

“Every man’s way is right in his own eyes, but the Lord weighs the hearts. To do righteousness and justice is desired by the Lord rather than sacrifice.” Proverbs 21:2-3

Talking about the pervasiveness of sin, Billy Graham told this story:

“Cliff Barrows and I were in Atlantic City many years ago with our wives. We had had a service, and we were walking down the boardwalk. A man was auctioning diamonds and other jewelry. We decided to go in. When we got married, I had given my wife a diamond that was so small, you couldn’t see it with a microscope. So I decided to get her a better diamond. I had $65 in my pocket. I eventually bid it all and bought the diamond. It was a perfect diamond, I thought.

The next day, I went to a jeweler, and I said, ‘Can you look and this diamond and tell me how much it is worth?’ He looked at it through his glass, and said, ‘Oh maybe $35 or $40.’ ‘What?’ I said. ‘This is supposed to be two carats!’ ‘Look at it,’ he said and gave the glass to me. I looked at it, and even I could see it was full of defects. And that’s the way God looks at us. We go to church and pray. We are good, moral people. But He looks at us through His own righteousness, and He sees in all of us the defects - our sin.”

Aren’t you really glad we’re saved by grace and God loves us in spite of what we were?