When I was a child, I had this special object as paraphernalia in what I can call my “magic box” – a place where I keep special items. Their qualifying property into “my box” was that they can attract metallic objects like nails by being just close enough. Furthermore, I find it more interesting that whenever anyone of them is broken into smaller pieces, each piece still has the same property, capable of doing the same thing as the “master”. Now you probably know what I’m talking about- MAGNET. The basic unit of all machines!

“These object must have come from mother nature” I thought also considering the fact that the colour of the common magnet from household appliances is dark greyish then perhaps they were mined from the rocks? Another gift of nature!
Well, as often said, time and perhaps development solve a lot of mysteries this is because as I continued to grow older reading science books and holy bible, I not only understood how magnet came into being but also discovered some startling similarities between them and a Christian.

Were magnets special? May be yes as not all materials can become magnets only a “chosen” few!
Then the question, were magnets “born” so by “mother nature”? May be not, the magnets I adore and play with were actually products of some deliberate manufacturing process. Wonderful! So my magical and enigmatic magnet was actually made!!!

Actually, it is not that magnets don’t exist naturally as I later found out; it’s just that naturally occurring magnets otherwise called magnetite are too weak for practical applications.
Now as I study my bible, I discovered that we Christians were saved by grace and not by works and not many men who were wise according to this world have been called to be Christians (1st Cor1:26-28) just as not all metals/minerals can be made into magnets. I also found out that just as magnetite, men in their most natural form are not useful for God and that even Christians who have yet to separate themselves for the right “processing” by God are far too raw for any divine purpose or application.

Now a mystery yet remained unsolved. What is this manufacturing process that magnets were subjected to that gives them unseen power to lift another object that are at times larger than themselves?, sure the answers was found in my science books and not the scriptures this time around.
It was then that I learnt that even the magnetizable materials, just like other ones that are not magnetizable are composed of tiny particles each in energy levels and are continuously bouncing off one another. Maybe they want to be free but all they could do was to move in disoriented fashion as a result of which the work done is zero.
All the manufacturer now needs to do is bring a steady stream of electric current so as to align these disoriented tiny, tiny particles and how long this stream of current is sustained in these materials decides whether they would be soft (temporary) magnet or hard (permanent) magnet. This will later determine how long the magnetic property lasts when the stream is eventually turned off. Heavy hammering or persistent heating however may make soft magnet lose its property but this is very difficult for a well formed hard magnets. This “hardness” also determines how much weight they can lift.

Alas! Useful magnet was not born! It is only those materials that remained in the process that became one!
The steady stream of current reminded me of what The Master said “abide in Me and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself except it remained in the vine…” (John15:4)
The only available option to allowing the steady stream of Master’s current of instruction to flow through us for fruit-bearing is to continue in our disoriented state or worse still be half-formed like the temporary magnets.

One fact you should bear in mind is that as all magnets were made to perform work, every branch in the Lord is expected out there in the field representing Him as ambassadors. They shall also be tested, for the rain will fall, the wind will blow and the flood shall come in various forms (Matt7:24-27). A magnet cannot remain in the shelf and still be a machine at the same time, additionally, manufacturer do not make use of an untested magnet because even the work it is going to perform is a test on its own; likewise the followership or abiding in Jesus will be at some expense and involves a lifetime of denial which happens “off the shelf”. What will now become of temporary magnets when the bellows of enemy’s hammer begins to fall on them in various forms of persecutions and temptations? It is a question for Christians who will not allow The Master’s instructions to take root in certain aspects of their lives.
But for those who will take their time and open the door of their heart to The Master’s instruction in their marriage, finances, education, professional practice and so on and will not keep any part away from The Master’s touch, nor get tired of The Master Himself, then their patience shall be rewarded with enough strength to bear fruit and weather the storms however boisterous.

So if I must be a material Lord please do not make me a plain slab of metal living in complete disorientation, seeking for freedom that can only be given!
Lord! Do not also make me a temporary magnet because it would have been better not to have been magnetized at all!
A permanent magnet? It is well magnetized. But Lord “well” has different depth hence it is a relative term.
Rather Lord make me “permanently a magnet” for you and by that I will be abiding by living on the current of your instructions forever! Amen!