Bottom line, a diamond’s desirable qualities are summed up in two words: fire and brilliancy.  Fire is the essences of its sparkle; brilliance comes from its ability to refract light.

As temples of the Holy Spirit, Christians  should have both fire and brilliancy.  What would that look like in a human?  Galatians 5:22 sums it up pretty well.  The fruit of the Spirit are these:

Love, Joy, Peace, Patience, Kindness, Goodness, Faithfulness, Gentleness and Self-control.

Yet we find an interesting passage of Scripture in Matthew 7:22, 23. Here we read about people who consider themselves to be Christians being denied entrance into God’s kingdom.  Why?  The Lord Jesus tells them “I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity.”

I wonder how many people in the church thought these workers of iniquity had fire and brilliance because they were doing the work of the Lord -pretty convincing works at that?  Yet, the Bible indicates that these men and women were not true diamonds -they were Cubic Zirconia.  To the untrained eye, Cubic Zirconia (CZ)  looks like a diamond and many are fooled by it in the same way that pyrite (fool’s gold) deluded the masses during the gold rush.

But Cubic Zirconia is not the real deal and therefore it does not have the value of a real diamond. Any true diamond collector would not only recognize CZ immediately, they would reject it.

My friends, God will not be mocked.  He knows the difference between the authentic and the counterfeit.  I pray that we all take the time to examine our lives, our motives, and our relationships with the Lord God while there is still time, and make any necessary changes so that he can look at our fire and brilliance on judgement day and say “Well done … Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world (Matthew 25:23, 34).

Of the two gems  pictured above, which is the real diamond and which is the cubic zirconia?  Are you sure?