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