Snake Jewelry - Emblem of Eternal Love?

     There's a new vintage jewelry hunter in the estate sale jungle this summer. Many of us have been a bit ruffled when she shows up at the front of a line, rushes to the jewelry display, and plants herself in a place that crowds out all other hunters! She's new to the hunt, and hasn't learned that there are factors besides sparkle that make a vintage piece of jewelry a treasure. And that is why this rare set was still available when she had moved on:

 Designer ART bracelet, ring and brooch set features a textured snake motif with red rhinestone eyes and white enamel accents.

    Or maybe she didn't like the snakes!

     Snake motif jewelry has found a place of favor on and off throughout history. For Cleopatra it represented her royalty. To Prince Albert and Queen Victoria it represented eternal love - Albert proposed to Victoria with a ring made in the image of a snake, emerald accents included. The pieces above were probably made about the time Elizabeth Taylor starred in the 1963 movie, "Cleopatra." 

     In the Bible we see the snake as a deceiver. The one who tempted Eve to disobey God by eating from the only forbidden tree in the garden of Eden. Who spoke and said, "You will not surely die. For God knows that in the day you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil." When Eve gave in to temptation, ate the fruit and gave it to Adam to eat also, all of creation was changed. Including the snake!

     Because of that disobedience Adam and Eve were separated from God. They were no longer innocent in a garden paradise, but sinners - aware of their nakedness and hiding from God. The God they had enjoyed walking with in the cool of the day...

     The first lie told to mankind by Satan the deceiver was this: Sin will not cause death. 

      God's truth states, "For the wages of sin is death..." 

       "But..."

  

       "...the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord." 

      Our great God has provided a way for us - the deceived ones - to be restored to life. Not because we believe that our sin doesn't cause death, but because we believe Jesus Christ paid the "wages" of our sin with His own death on the cross.

     Snake jewelry has held many different meanings for its wearers throughout history.  The Victorian belief of eternal love is the one I will share, though not the kind that Albert and Victoria professed. I will see it as a reminder of God's eternal love that changed the penalty for sin from death to eternal life through Jesus!

  *Genesis 3, Romans 6:23  

     

     

      

     

     

Real Treasure Stands the Test of Time

     It's amazing to find rhinestone accented costume jewelry from six decades ago, all stones intact and sparkling - and yet - there they are, shining up from an estate display! Perhaps it has something to do with the workmanship involved in these old pieces. The mountings were carefully cleaned, buffed, and sometimes hand enameled. Then the rhinestones were prong set into cups or spaces as the design required. If you ever try to replace one of these stones you will quickly understand what a tedious task this was! Yet the worker accomplished the task with such care that we can still enjoy these stunning pieces today!

   

Trifari 1951 Gem of India Necklace, Bracelet and Earrings Set

     During a recent trip to New York, I looked across an intersection to see a table set up near the corner. A throng of women were circled around it, so I had to cross over and see what could be so interesting! The rickety table had a small sign at the front marked, "All jewelry $5.00 each". A mountain of white jewelry boxes with clear lids were being flung left and right as the women searched through for treasures. The sparkle of rhinestones caught my eye, so I picked up one box, then another. It didn't take a magnifying glass to see that this rhinestone costume jewelry was poorly made and already missing some of the stones. I put it back and watched it get snatched up immediately.

     It didn't meet my standards, because I'd enjoyed the beauty of real workmanship. Jewelry made with such care that it lasts for decades. 

     Too often we are willing to settle for something less. Something that won't last. We grab on because we see others doing it, it doesn't cost us much, and it's quick. Like the pile of street corner jewelry! And for a bit it seems to satisfy our craving...

     But then it breaks down, and we're out there searching for something else. 

     In the case of the bad jewelry choice, the buyers were out a small sum of money, the results of their poor choice wouldn't effect them too much. However, what happens when we decide our eternity in the same way?

   When we make a decision about whether or not to believe in Jesus Christ based on what everyone around us is doing, wanting something at very little cost to us, and wanting it to be quick so we don't need to spend much time thinking about God's will for our lives, that decision is sure to break down. It's trusting in something fake to fix the craving that God placed in each of us...that can only be filled by Him!

    The beauty of this truth,  "...that Christ  died for our sins according to the Scriptures, and that He was buried, and that He rose again the third day according to the Scriptures...", is eternal. 

     It may not be popular...

     It will cost us everything...

     It will not be a quick fix, it will change our lives now and for eternity.

     But it is worth never settling for anything less than Jesus.

* 1Corinthians 15:3b-4