View from a Pew "Pressure May Create Diamonds, But They Still Need to Be Cut"

A View From A Pew: PRESSURE

0:00

/182.485714

1×

We’ve all heard the saying—“Pressure creates diamonds.” It rolls off the tongue at graduations, in pep talks, and on motivational posters as if that’s the whole story. But let me be clear: that phrase, on its own, belongs in the scrap heap of worn-out clichés.

Because pressure, by itself, doesn’t always produce something beautiful.

Pressure can crush. Pressure can traumatize. Pressure can leave people broken, bitter, and bruised. Not everyone who goes through the fire comes out forged. Some come out scorched—scarred by what they survived, and still unsure how to move forward.

So let’s tell the whole truth: Yes, pressure may create diamonds—but diamonds don’t shine when they’re fresh out of the earth. They’re rough. Uncut. Covered in dirt. And if nobody puts in the work to shape them, they never become the brilliant gems we admire.

It’s the cutting that makes the difference.

The light we see bouncing off a diamond’s surface? That sparkle? That brilliance? It only comes after careful, intentional work. Someone has to study that stone. Someone has to know exactly where to chisel, exactly what to trim away, and exactly what to leave untouched.

Now take that lesson and apply it to your life. Adversity alone won’t make you amazing. Going through hard times doesn’t automatically make you wiser, stronger, or more faithful. That only comes when you make a choice to shape your pain into purpose.

You’ve got to do the cutting. That means doing the hard, holy work of healing. That means facing what hurt you without letting it define you. That means forgiving—not always for them, but for you. That means asking yourself: What parts of this pain do I carry forward? And what do I leave behind?

Because if you don't, you’ll stay hardened. You'll stay rough. And the light that was meant to shine through you will stay trapped inside a stone that was never cut.

We don’t get to skip the work. If we want the brilliance, we have to do the breaking, the chiseling, the refining. And Lord knows, that process takes time, patience, and grace.

Let’s stop acting like pressure is enough.

Pressure creates diamonds, but it’s the cutting that makes them shine.

So let the Master Jeweler—life, faith, time, community, or God Himself—shape you. Let Him cut away what doesn’t serve you anymore. Let Him reveal the brilliance that was buried deep inside you all along.

Because you were never meant to stay rough. You were meant to shine.