Dirty-looking pebbles

What do young people aspire to be? Pop star? Footballer? Or maybe a supermodel...

Naomi Campbell is in the news this week giving testimony at the war crimes tribunal of Charles Taylor, ex-dictator of Liberia. I guess that's what happens when you mix with the rich and famous. Initially she denied everything. Then tried to avoid being a witness. Now, in court, she has admitted being given three "dirty-looking pebbles" but says she didn't know who they were from (a statement likely to be contradicted by other witnesses next week).

I guess not so many are aspiring to be her right now. But what really caught my eye was a comment in today's Times:

...I say, laugh not at Naomi, for you laugh at yourself. Inside all of us is a good side ... but we know it's really just a thin facade. Because underneath there is our secret self, the one we hope no one will discover: the side that is childish, petulant and self-absorbed. (The Times, 7/8/2010, p21)

Hmm... If those "dirty-looking pebbles" were cut and polished they'd reveal themselves to be sparkling diamonds inside. But if our hearts are cut open - our "secret self" revealed - the opposite is true. The Times columnist may not know it, but Jesus said it first, and much better:

...from within, out of men's hearts, come evil thoughts, sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, greed, malice, deceit, lewdness, envy, slander, arrogance and folly. (Mark 7 v 21-22)

If that was the end of the story, we'd be wretched people indeed., for "all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God" (Romans 3 v 23) BUT, as Romans 3 goes straight on to say, "and are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus." (Romans 3 v 24)

Without Christ, we are the opposite of those diamonds. Our hearts show what we're really like, the bits we hope no one will ever know about. But through Christ, we can have the joy of forgiveness. If we trust in Jesus, God looks at us and sees the purity and perfection of His Son. And one day He will welcome us into the new creation. Now that's really something to aspire to.