A Fake Diamond and a Real Lesson

"Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us." Hebrews 12:1

I slipped into the kitchen on that early Monday morning. Mom had gone into the bathroom to clean, Dad wasn't awake yet and thus the coast was clear. From a young age I have been enthralled with diamond rings and weddings and the like. Mom had a cubic zirconia ring that had a home on the window sill. I could play with it, but I couldn't wear it to school. But THAT day, I had made up my mind to usurp her authority and wear it anyway. At around 10:30 in my fourth grade class, I slipped the ring on my finger. I figured at this point, I could leave it on for the day without anyone seeing it who would question me. But one of my friends wanted to see it. So with the perfect combination of my mother's dainty size 7 hand and my pudgy adolescent finger, I began to work at getting the ring off of my finger.
It was at this point of blunt force that my finger began swelling and turning purple. I was forced to raise my hand (no it didn't help with the swelling) and call for Mrs. Harkey to come to my assistance. The lesson stopped as she doused my hand in olive oil. That didn't work. She then tried soap. THAT didn't work. So she did the only thing that, in her defense, was left to do. She CALLED MY MOTHER.
My mom took me to the locally owned jewelery store on Main Street and they had to cut the ring off of my body. I was slightly traumatized and Mom was out a ring. We decided we had both suffered enough for the day. I had learned my lesson and at this point it was lunch time. We never made it back to school that day. But I digress.

Have you ever worked so hard to obtain the forbidden? You JUST KNEW that it really was okay for you to have and that your parents, your spouse, your friends, your boss just didn't have a brain in their head? You would just take matters into your own hands, right? But how many times do those matters get bound to our hands? We get caught, stuck in this THING that turned into something we never saw coming. There was no denying it. The ring was stuck and it wasn't coming off! If I had allowed that ring to stay on my finger at that point, after a series of unfortunate events, I probably would have lost my finger. Let me tell ya, diamonds might theoretically be a girl's best friend, but I draw the line at losing a finger for one (a fake at that!). What sin are you holding onto that is going to suck the life out of you? It's causing you to swell and turn purple but you are not letting that thing go. We try to coax ourselves out of situations, but the thing is sin isn't a habit we can kick. We need the power of the Holy Spirit to help us. Slippery oil and soap were not going to work. The ring was not going to budge. I had to CUT IT OFF. What in your life do you need to cut off? Is there a relationship that is unhealthy? Is there an attitude that is poisoning you? Is there guilt, regret, bitterness? Is it fear, pain, or pride?
As a nine year old, I couldn't get that ring off. My fourth grade teacher who was trying her best to use the materials she had available wasn't going to get the ring off. We had to go to someone who had the right equipment to cut through what was bound to me.
We need to get rid of anything that holds us back from getting closer to the mark of the high call; get rid of whatever is keeping us from getting closer to Jesus and doing the work of His kingdom.
Sin is easy to get into but hard to get out of. I didn't need my teacher, a gallon of olive oil and the twenty pairs of eyes of my classmates looking on to slip that ring on my finger. It was easy. It went right on. But getting it off? Oy vey.
Be careful of the things you just "slip into." And take care of the swelling, purple appendages of your body. Get rid of EVERY thing that hinders you. Here's a clue: Sin usually looks like a diamond but is a cubic zirconia AND it won't tell you that it will take a fiasco to get off.