The Magnet

"I hate homework," groaned Rosa as she jabbed the sharp tip of her pencil at a long division problem.Sebastian lifted his nose out of his science book. "I don't mind doing science homework. These magnets are cool! Watch this." He took a nail and rubbed it across a magnet several times. Then he held the nail close to a pin. "See? It picked up the pin just like a real magnet!" "Wow!" exclaimed Rosa. "Why does it do that?""Some magnetism got rubbed off onto the nail," explained Sebastian."Can I try?" asked Rosa. She took the nail and held it over a paper clip, giggling as it sprang up toward the nail. Next, she took a clip from her hair and held the nail over that. This time, nothing happened."The nail loses its power to attract things quickly if it isn't rubbed against the magnet again," said Sebastian. "That's why it didn't pick up that clip. To keep it working, it has to be rubbed against the magnet over and over."Rosa returned the nail to her brother and went back to her math while he continued to tinker with the magnet. "This nail is just like a Christian," he said.Rosa gave him a confused look. "What are you talking about?""Well, look! This magnet is like God, and the nail is like us," said Sebastian. "When we get saved, God brings us close to Him." Sebastian illustrated by rubbing the nail against the magnet. "The nail gets power from the magnet, and we receive power from God to love others like Jesus and attract people to Him."Rosa nodded. "As we let the Holy Spirit's power guide us in how to live, people will see the love of God in our lives and want what we have--we'll be magnetic Christians. But if we focus on our own selfish desires instead of what God wants, then we're like a plain old nail again." She grinned at her brother. "Hey, you're pretty smart to think of that. I'm impressed!"Sebastian grinned too. "Good! Keep thinking like that. Even though my teacher at church used a magnet like this for an illustration in class last week, that doesn't mean I wouldn't have thought of it myself." He laughed as Rosa threw an eraser in his direction.–Ellen C. Orr