I'm Sorry to tell you that Your Diamond is Fake

Several years ago I worked in a jewelry sales job, and learned quite a bit about diamonds. I will never forget the day when this customer came in wanting to know the value of a men’s ring. Now I wasn’t allowed to give people values but I was allowed to give them a guesstimate, and I happily went about my work to do so. I love looking at older estate jewelry and the woman seemed like a nice woman.

As her story unfolded it seemed the ring she wanted me to look at had been in the family for over 50 years and it had belonged to her father. Sadly her father had just passed away, and she’d wanted to see what this family heirloom was worth. As I began talking to her I developed a pretty good exchange with her, and I wanted desperately to be able to give her a good amount for her heirloom. She seemed like a nice woman and I felt bad that she’d just lost her father.

The ring initially appeared to be a diamond that I could easily guess at a 1 to a 1.3 carat round set in a yellow gold setting. The first thing I did was to diamond test the piece. You see diamonds are made out of carbon. Carbon puts off heat and you can buy a diamond tester to see if it’s the right temperature for a diamond. Most jewelry stores have them. Moissanite which is a fake diamond will and can also test like one but it’s the first test to start weeding out fakes. It’s not rocket science. My first issue with her diamond is it didn’t test like a diamond.

I looked at her apologetic. “I’m sorry ma’am sometimes this diamond tester has issues. Let me try something else.” She nodded at me. I could tell by her body language our good exchange was heading in the wrong direction. She was beginning to get a little edgy with me. Her body language began to grow tense and she started drumming her fingertips on my counter. Trying to ignore her aggravation, I took the ring and put it under a microscope. Then I noticed there were huge problems with this stone. There was a gash on the top of it, and when I rotated it the cutlet on the bottom was broken. This wasn’t a real stone. It is possible to break diamonds, but it has to be a really hard hit along the planes within the stone. There wouldn’t be a gash in the top, and it would be virtually impossible in a mounted ring that the cutlet would be chipped like it was on this stone.

Not wanting to make eye contact with her, I placed the ring back in her hand, “I’m sorry to tell you that I don’t think this stone is real.” I went on to explain to her why, but she didn’t want to believe me. I can understand if it was an heirloom suddenly being told it wasn’t real would not be the answer you wanted to hear. “Please go ask someone else, and don’t just take my word for it.” I kept trying to add as she began to get very upset with me. I knew it wasn’t real, and I knew any other jewelry person would tell her the same thing, but I didn’t want a scene in the middle of the store.

Many people are like that with their beliefs and their worldviews. They cling onto what they believe to be true. They believe what their generations have told them and when faced with the facts that it isn’t truth or maybe they have been deceived they start to get a little uncomfortable and agitated. They don’t want you to preach the truth because they might find out they were wrong. People want to shy away from absolutes, but they are real. A person will absolutely either go to Heaven or Hell after they die. These are real places and there is no purgatory in between.

This happened in Jesus’ day too. He preached and a lot of people got ticked off. The Pharisees were so convinced they were right, and hearing Him preach truth made them so mad they had him killed. So it really isn’t a surprise if you find yourself in situations where people start attacking you personally because they don’t like you speaking truth.

John 15:18-20 (esv) 18 “If the world hates you, know that it has hated me before it hated you. 19 If you were of the world, the world would love you as its own; but because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you. 20 Remember the word that I said to you: ‘A servant is not greater than his master.’ If they persecuted me, they will also persecute you. If they kept my word, they will also keep yours”

Some people don’t want to put themselves out there and tell the truth because they don’t want the persecution. I get that argument. I also get there is a way to say something in love instead of acting like a crazy screaming picketing weirdo. Most people don’t know that in my private life I don’t like making waves and I’m not as bold and opinionated as people think…most of the time. But let me ask this to that argument. In the story with the woman believing her diamond was real, don’t you think it was time someone told her the truth. She needed to know. I couldn’t just keep lying to her like every else obviously had. The truth needed to be told.

I don’t enjoy persecution. It stinks! But I also know that I have to give an account for my life one day in front of the thrown of Jesus. We will all have to do that. If I keep lying to people though I know the truth I am going to have to give an answer to God one day about that. If I have to choose between getting persecuted on the earth or having to try to give God some tired measly excuse that won’t hold any weight in heaven, I’d rather opt for the persecution on the earth. Life is too short to live a lie. This isn’t about earning a spot in heaven, Jesus did that for us on the cross, but this is about living a life realizing there is a lost and dying world out there and just because you might be saved doesn’t mean the rest are saved. People need to speak up and start speaking the truth in love! At the end of the day I have to answer to God for the life I lived. His opinion means more to me than the people on the earth.

Remember He has awesome plans for your life. Get excited.