Wanting What You've Got

Russel Cornwell used to tell the story of a Persian named Ali Hafed. He was a wealthy farmer who had fertile lands with orchards, grain fields, and gardens, that produced abundantly year after year. Hafed was content and known throughout his region as having it all. Then an acquaintance began to talk to him about diamonds. He said, “If you owned a diamond the size of your thumb, you could purchase the whole country. If you owned a diamond mine, you could buy the thrones of nations for your children to rule from.”Ali Hafed had woken up that morning a rich man, but he went to bed that night poor. From being satisfied and content, he began to crave diamonds and dreamed of finding and buying property that would produce them. So he sold his very fertile farm and used the money to travel the world in search of diamonds. After many years, and having exhausted his resources, he never achieved his dream, but committed suicide, destitute and depressed.The man who purchased his property, one day caught sight of a “rainbow sparkle” among the stones, in the brook on the property. He went to the brook, found the stone, and it was a diamond. Investigating further, he learned he was sitting on top of a large store of large and precious diamonds. Every shovel of rocks from that stream held diamonds. Every acre of that farm has since produced diamonds. That very property became known as the Diamond Mine of Golconda, the most magnificent diamond mine in the world.Had Mr. Hafed merely appreciated and fully investigated all that he had, he would have lived beyond his wildest dreams. Instead, he went looking for it elsewhere, and it alluded him. He lost all that he had at one time enjoyed.Every Christian is sitting atop a storehouse of incredibly valuable resources. But far too many of us hear the whispers of far-away yearnings that cannot be satisfied, and leave behind God’s depository of value in our lives. Blessing is not found by looking outside of what you’ve been given. That leads to internal poverty and disillusionment. In the words of Sheryl Crow, "It's not having what you want; it's wanting what you've got." And if you are in Christ, you’ve got far more than anything this world’s wealthiest people could ever have.Don’t miss out on the blessings you have. Just look a little closer at where God has placed you, the people he’s surrounded you with, even your possessions, and make the most of all that you’ve been given. You may be sitting on a diamond mine.Ephesians 1:3-14 – “[God] has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places… In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our [sins], according to the riches of his grace, which he lavished upon us… In him we have obtained an inheritance…were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit, who is the guarantee of our inheritance until we acquire possession of it, to the praise of his glory.”