Feel the Uplifting Power
His name was Mr. Smith. I learned it the hard way. One day I was hanging out the back window of the upstairs of my dad’s store. I saw him in the alley and called out to him, “How are you doing Cid?” No sooner had I done it until I heard my dad’s reprimanding voice saying, “His name is Mr. Smith to you, son.” It was a proper bit of instruction. To dad, his peer, he was Cid. To me, a juvenile, he was Mr. Smith. It was a short course in respect for your elders.
Cid, uh Mr. Smith, held a responsible role in our agrarian society. With all of the farm implements that need sharpening the blacksmith was a vital person.
He had what was to me an intriguing device, simple as it was. Keep in mind this was before the days of popular magnets and Etch-a-Sketch.
Because of the friendship between dad and Mr. Cid I was allowed on occasion to play with his magnet, the only one in town. Beneath his emery wheel there was on the table a pile of iron filings, each smaller than a grain of sand.
I learned that if the magnet was held a few inches above the iron filings the force field of the magnet would cause the filings to move slightly. As the magnet drew closer to the filings the more they moved. When I got the magnet where its force field had its power influential enough the filings would jump up to meet it. Over and over I played the game to see how close the magnet had to be before the filings were caught up in the air.
Even in my childish mind I could see the likeness of the iron filings responding to the magnet by being caught to meet it and the second coming of Jesus. Every evidence is that we who know Jesus as savior will be caught up to meet him in the air. What a day that will be!
With the evidence of His coming ever nearer the more active we should be to His influence on us.
Scholars have identified 1,845 different biblical references to the Second Coming of Jesus Christ in the Bible. In the Old Testament, no less than seventeen books mention Christ’s return. The New Testament authors speak of it in 23 of the 27 books. Seven out of ten chapters in the New Testament refer to His return.
Bible scholars in considering the signs of His coming say all essential signs that are to precede His coming have been fulfilled. There is just enough time to prepare. Live with that expectation and be motivated by it to be and do your best in all things in order to be ready.
Belief in the second coming of Jesus should be a stimulus to joy, and discipline. Jesus has said, “I will come again…” As certainly as He came to Bethlehem He will come again to the Mount of Olives.
As He came to die so He will come to reign.
As He came to be crucified so He will come to be crowned.
You can almost hear the trumpet sound. Yet, He may delay another two thousand years. He may not. Regardless there is no disappointment in being ready.