The nature of nails.

A man is cleaning out his garage and discovers a small box filled with a mixture of tiny iron nails, wooden splinters, sawdust, and pieces of paper. Suppose he desires to save the nails. How could he quickly separate them from the wooden splinters? If a magnet was available, the task would be quite simple. He would simply position the magnet over the box. Immediately all those objects possessing the same physical nature would be caught up to meet the magnet in the air.

If his wife were watching all this, spotting a particular object in the box, she might say: “Look at the sharp point on that! I bet the magnet will zap that up!” But unknown to her, that tiny item might be a sharp sliver of wood which would not be taken up. Or, she might conclude: “That fragment over there is a piece of wood for sure.” However, in reality it could be a “backslidden” nail with some rust on it. But in both cases the magnet would quickly and accurately discern the character of the piece and act accordingly.

When Christ appears, He will not come especially for black or white people, for Catholics or Protestants, for Jews or Gentiles, but only for those individuals who possess the same nature as Himself. One of the most thrilling things God does for each repenting sinner is to give him or her the very mind of Christ and a brand new creation! (See 1 Cor. 2:16; 2 Cor. 5:17; Eph. 4:24; 2 Pet. 1:4.)

A thought for all backslidden nails—Get rid of that rust just in case He would return today, for He could!