What Are You Missing Here?

    Russel Cornwell used to tell the story of a Persian named Ali Hafed. He was a wealthy farmer who had fertile lands with orchards, grain fields and gardens that yielded faithfully year after year. Hafed was a contented man, known throughout his region as having it all. Then a traveler from the east began to talk to him of the value of diamonds. He said, “If you owned a diamond the size of your thumb, you could purchase the whole county. If you owned a diamond mine, you could buy the thrones of nations for your children to rule from.”
    Though Ali Hafed had woken up that morning a rich man, he went to bed that night very poor. He went from satisfied and contented to craving diamonds and dreaming of finding and acquiring property that would produce them. So he sold his very fertile farm and used the money to travel the world in search of diamonds. After many years and having exhausted his resources, he never a achieved his dream, but committed suicide, destitute and depressed.
    Unbeknownst to him, the man who purchased his property one day spied a “rainbow sparkle” among the stones in the brook on the property. Upon close examination, he determined it was a diamond. With further investigation, he learned he was sitting on top of a giant store of large and precious diamonds. Every shovel of rocks from that stream contained diamonds. Every acre of that farm has since produced diamonds. That very property became known as the Diamond Mine of Golconda, the most magnificent diamond mine in the world.
    Had Mr. Hafed merely appreciated and fully investigated all that he had, he would have lived beyond his wildest dreams. Instead, he went looking for it elsewhere, it alluded him, and he lost all that he had at one time enjoyed.
    Every Christian is sitting atop a storehouse of precious and incredibly valuable resources. But far too many of us hear the whispers of far-away yearnings that cannot be satisfied, and leave behind God’s depository of worth in our lives. Blessing is not found by looking outside of what you’ve been given. That leads to internal poverty and disillusionment. Happiness is not gained by getting what you want, but by wanting what you’ve got. And if you are in Christ, you’ve got far more than anything that this world’s wealthiest people could ever have.
    Don’t leave behind the blessings God has given you. Just look a little closer at where he placed you, the people in your life, what is in your possession, and make the most of all that you’ve been given. You may be sitting on a diamond mine.
    Ephesians 1:3-14 – “[God] has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places… In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our [sins], according to the riches of his grace, which he lavished upon us… In him we have obtained an inheritance…were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit, who is the guarantee of our inheritance until we acquire possession of it, to the praise of his glory.”