A diamond, the most beautiful and precious gemstone, symbolizes love, purity and strength. A perfect diamond can dazzle any beholder with its brilliance and sparkle. Yet one that appears beautiful to the eye may contain imperfections and flaws when viewed by an expert with a special magnifying lens.

All of Christ’s suffering and death, the maturing process of the individual and corporate believer and the eternal plan of God is to create a Church - a body of believers - which when showcased to the world will sparkle and shine like a perfect diamond, without spot, wrinkle or blemish. This final Church is described in Revelation as having the glory of God, shining like gold and transparent as glass (Revelation 21: 9-21).

A perfect diamond is of the highest clarity, cut, carat and color. Clarity refers to lack of visible or invisible flaws or imperfections. In a diamond, some spots or flaws are visible to the naked eye, diminishing its value. Within the Church, these represent failures that can be detected with relatively little difficulty. These are the glaring sins that are exposed by their natural or inherent consequences, such as a non-marital pregnancy, a husband who abandons his family, exposed theft or gossiping, etc.

The more subtle imperfections that distort the true brilliance of God’s people are the inner imperfections, the inclusions in a diamond which many don’t see, but are known to the expert, the one who eventually determines its worth.

A diamond dealer will examine a supposedly valuable diamond with a magnifying lens to detect any flaws invisible to the naked eye which mar the true clarity and value. These flaws, called nature’s birthmarks, are the result of the environment in which the diamond was formed or from which it emerged, reminders of an imperfect past. They are specks of other minerals that reduce the overall brilliance by interfering with the path of light as it travels through the gem.

The Holy Spirit knows the Church God desires to reflect His glory- a perfect diamond of a Church. And He works to reveal the inner imperfections, those hidden flaws that only He can reveal. Often we may not know we have these imperfections or may not realize the extent to which they are reducing the glory of God’s Church, thinking that they are individual issues. These may be acts of inner rebellion, lawlessness of spirit, disobedience or inaccuracy in our lifestyles.

Our individual imperfections hinder the overall corporate effect. Though we are individual gems, at the same time, we are part of a body intertwined and dependent on each other, with Christ as the head. As light bounces off one surface to another, a flaw in one area will cause the light to be poorly directed to another.

While imperfections in diamonds remain, reducing the ultimate value, there is no such option with us. There is a requirement for perfection in each of us: all imperfections must therefore be removed. God demands nothing less. We have to aggressively push our lives to the point of perfection, sanctification and holiness. This is not achieved by living complacently or by gliding along from day to day. We must work on our characters and our lifestyles to ensure that we are not hindering the passage of light through the body. We must not compromise the Truth, seek to circumvent His purpose or rely on earthly wisdom. We must cooperate and partner with the Holy Spirit and embrace God’s principles and standards in every area of our lives so that when the world looks at us, there are no imperfections, only a true reflection of the glory and honour of God.