Confidence

Diamonds in the sun

Science with a twist

In this “compare and contrast” exercise, you’ll examine the beauty of a diamond in the sun and liken it to a person who is reflecting the love of Christ.

Begin by showing your children a diamond in a dimly-lit room. The diamond seems able to catch and reflect all the light in the room.

Next, move to bright sunlight and show your children how much more light and colour the diamond reflects.

Finally, go into a completely dark room and see if the diamond is even visible at all.

Use the discussion questions to help your children think about how people can be like diamonds.

Questions for discussion
  1. How are people like diamonds?
  2. When are people like the diamond in the room with just a little bit of light?
  3. How are people like the diamond in the dark room?
  4. When are people like the diamond that sparkled in the sun?
  5. Do you know what diamonds look like when they are dug out of the ground?
  6. How do you think they get all cleaned up and pretty like this one?
  7. How are people like “diamonds in the rough”?
  8. How can God smooth out our rough edges and make us shine?
  9. What kind of diamond would you like to be?
Key concepts

People are a lot like diamonds. In and of themselves, people can do kind things, be thoughtful to others and give generously. Good people are like diamonds in a dimly lit room. We find them attractive and enjoy being with them.

People can also be dreadful to each other. They can be like a diamond in a completely dark room. The diamond does not reflect any light at all and there is nothing about it that attracts us to it.

The most beautiful way to view a diamond is to see it in the sun. In order to shine brightly, the diamond needs to be in bright light. People are like the sparkly diamond when they follow God’s ways and reflect God’s love to others. There is no way we can reflect God’s love without His Holy Spirit helping us. We need to be filled with God’s Holy Spirit in order to “shine” in a way that makes others admire Him.

When diamonds are first dug up out of the ground, they are not polished and shiny. They look more like worn fragments of glass that have been washed up on the beach. Their surfaces are dull, and they don’t reflect light well at all. In this state, they are called “rough diamonds.” A professional diamond cutter has to cut and polish each rough diamond to make it sparkling and beautiful.

In a similar way, God smoothes our rough edges and polishes us by sending His Holy Spirit to show us the sin He wants to remove from us. When we love and obey God, we get better and better at reflecting God’s loving nature to others.

Pray with your kids, asking God to fill your home and hearts with His Holy Spirit so your family can show others what Jesus’ love looks like.

Relevant Scripture

1 John 2:6 “Whoever claims to live in Him must walk as Jesus did.”

2 Corinthians 3:4-6 “Such confidence as this is ours through Christ before God. Not that we are competent in ourselves to claim anything for ourselves, but our competence comes from God. He has made us competent as ministers of a new covenant – not of the letter but of the Spirit; for the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life.”

2 Corinthians 3:17-18 “Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. And we, who with unveiled faces all reflect the Lord’s glory, are being transformed into His likeness with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit.”