Soft-Iron Magnets

SOFT-IRON MAGNETS

There are two kinds of magnets, steel magnets and soft iron magnets. The steel magnet receives its magnetism from the load stone, and has it permanently; it can get along very well alone in a small way; it can pick up needles and do many other little things to amuse children. There is another kind of magnet, which is made of soft iron, with a coil of copper wire round it. When the battery is all ready, and the cups are filled with the mercury, and the connection is made with the wires, this magnet is twenty times as strong as the steel magnet. Break the circuit, and its power is all gone instantly.

We are soft iron magnets; our whole power must come from the Lord Jesus Christ, but faith makes the connection. Good works flow from a connected relationship with God by faith. Works and faith do not go hand-in-hand, as though they are two rails of a train track. No, works flow naturally from a life of faith; works are the product, not the partner, of genuine lasting and purely biblical faith.

(From a sermon by Chris Surber "Sola Fide" 12/23/2008)