The famous New York diamond dealer Harry Winston heard about a wealthy Dutch merchant who was looking for a certain kind of diamond to add to his collection. Winston called the merchant, told him that he thought he had the perfect stone, and invited the collector to come to New York and examine it.
The collector flew to New York and Winston assigned a salesman to meet him and show him the diamond. When the salesman presented the diamond to the merchant he described the expensive stone by pointing out all its fine technical features. The merchant listened and praised the stone but turned away and said, “It’s a wonderful stone but not exactly what I wanted.”
Winston, who had been watching the presentation from a distance, stopped the merchant and asked, “Do you mind if I show you the diamond once again?” The merchant agreed and Winston presented the same stone. But, instead of talking about the technical features of the stone, Winston spoke spontaneously about his own genuine admiration of the diamond and what a rare thing of beauty it was. Abruptly, the customer changed his mind and bought the diamond.
While he was waiting for the diamond to be packaged and brought to him, the merchant turned to Winston and asked, “Why did I buy it from you when I had no difficulty saying no to your salesman?”
Winston replied, “The salesman is one of the best in the business and he knows more about diamonds than I do. I pay him a good salary for what he knows. But I would gladly pay him twice as much, if I could put into him something I have and he lacks. You see, he knows diamonds, but I love them.”
I love this illustration. There is a vast difference between knowing about Christ and truly loving Him. A person can know many Bible stories and Bible principles about Christ, yet he may not love Him. When you truly love Christ, He will be the center of your thoughts and desires. You will want to fellowship with Him everyday.
When we truly know and love our LORD, we will be willing to commit everything to Him and bring everything in our lives under His control.
We will be willing to give Him our desires…conforming our desires to those which will please and honor Him.
We will be willing to give Him our affections …loving those things that God loves.
We will be willing to give Him our will…choosing things that which is good for our lives and our families.
We will be willing to give Him our emotions…subjecting our feelings to the truth of God’s Word.
We will be willing to give Him our character…pursuing holiness, godliness, and purity.
We will be willing to give Him our thoughts…meditating on God’s truths in His Word.