Diamond Earrings

When my wife was pregnant with our first child, I walked into a jewelry store one afternoon and bought her a nice set of diamond earrings.  It was random, spur of the moment and probably not a wise financial move at that moment of my life.  With all of that being said, I didn’t care!  I loved my wife more than anything else in the world.   I was excited that she was pregnant with our son and wanted her to have those earrings so she would see how much I loved her!  The night she was in the in the hospital delivering our son, I gave them to her.  To this day, they are one of her prized possessions.

Three weeks ago, she lost one of them at church.  Immediately tears welled up in both of our eyes.  She was so disappointed.  That afternoon, I went back to the sanctuary and crawled on my hands and knees with a flashlight, looking for them.  I had a lady from our church look in the ladies restroom.  We even walked the halls of our church looking over every square inch trying to find the very small, very valuable earring.  The following day my wife found the diamond in a trash can in our bathroom.  She screamed for joy, hugged me, we both cried and thanked God for letting us find it.  I emailed my friends.  She called our family members.  We were overjoyed and so thankful.

In Luke 15, we see the exact same scenario.  In verses Jesus tells us the exact same story:

⁸ “Or suppose a woman has ten silver coins and loses one. Doesn’t she light a lamp, sweep the house and search carefully until she finds it? ⁹ And when she finds it, she calls her friends and neighbors together and says, ‘Rejoice with me; I have found my lost coin.’ ¹⁰ In the same way, I tell you, there is rejoicing in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents.”

After experiencing this scenario in real life and reading about it in God’s word, I began to question my approach to evangelism.  I asked myself these questions:

• Do I get on my hands and knees for Jesus, looking for those who are lost and dead in sin without Him?
• Do I light the lamp trying to find them the same way I searched for the diamond?
• Do I adopt the same “Sense of urgency” for a lost soul as I did the earring?
• When someone does meet Jesus as their Savior, do I truly celebrate?  Do I call friends and family members and rejoice?

The bottom line is this:  Diamonds can be replaced.  Souls cannot.  People who we meet on a daily basis are 100 million times more valuable than any diamond or treasure here on earth.  Do our actions reflect that same manner?

Today, pray for those around you.  Ask God to show you those He considers diamonds.  Pray for opportunities to bring Jesus into their life.  Celebrate the way the angels do when you see others give their life to Christ.  God sent us to find those who are lost.