5 Magnetic Points: Pointing Others to Jesus
April 26, 2024 | by: John Lee | 0 Comments
Posted in: Pastoral Encouragement
Can you recall a time when you were simply drawn to someone or something? What drew you to that person or thing? Daniel Strange, author of Making Faith Magnetic, helpfully leans on the wisdom of J.H. Bavinck (20th Century Dutch Reformed missionary and theologian) and what he has developed as the five magnetic points to which humans are repeatedly drawn. These five magnetic points get at the fundamental questions and longings that humans throughout the ages and cultures have and continue to seek answers to.
Strange has taken Bavinck’s work on this and adapted it to our modern context and how these magnetic points find their ultimate fulfillment in Christ. These are five magnetic points that we do well to be looking for as we continually seek to share the hope of Christ with those around us.
Magnetic Point 1: Totality – Is there a way to connect?
This magnetic point gets at a core longing that we all have for connection. It is easy to feel small, insignificant, and merely like a speck as we exist in a universe so vast. Yet, when we connect with something or someone bigger than ourselves, there is a significance that we often experience, know, and crave after. We love to belong. We crave connection, we can feel abandoned when it goes missing, and we find ourselves craving after it again and again. So, is it possible to belong and be connected to someone or something in such a way that lasts?
Magnetic Point 2: Norm – Is there a way to live?
This magnetic point gets at the reality that there are rules to be obeyed (for even the counter- culturalists live by their own set of rules of nonconformity!). Whether people are able to articulate this or simply are showing it by the attitude with which they live their life, people recognize, accept, and adhere to moral standards that come from outside themselves. So, is there a right way to live that leads to life?
Magnetic Point 3: Deliverance – Is there a way out?
This magnetic point confronts us with the fact that the world is not the way it’s supposed to be. People know and experience the estate of sin and misery (WSC 19). They know the problem of brokenness, wrongdoing, suffering, and death. We all desperately long for deliverance, we crave redemption, and we look forward to a day when all evil is eradicated. So, what is the ultimate problem and is there an ultimate solution to it?
Magnetic Point 4: Destiny – Is there a way of control?
This magnetic point has each person press against the reality that our sense of control is not as constant as we tend to think. It is true that we are active players in the world and in our lives, but ultimately, we are not the masters over our lives that we tend believe. Our plans fail. Our dreams get crushed. Our willpower and drive show themselves to be rather weak. We strongly sense this reality when things don’t go our way (both in great and tragic ways). This reality leaves people quite restless in light of the seemingly instability of our world and our lives. So, if we aren’t the ultimate masters over our lives, is it possible to find lasting peace and rest?
Magnetic Point 5: Higher Power – Is there a way beyond?
This magnetic point is considered the meta-magnetic point on which all the others converge. The deeper we engage in these magnetic points, the more the question is begged, what is behind all of this? Or rather, who is behind all of this? In philosophical terms, this magnetic point is asking who or what is ultimate reality?
The One Magnetic Person: Jesus Christ
These five magnetic points have been helpful in my own life and engagement with others. They have helped me to peer into the world and the people around me at a deeper level. These points are hardly ever consciously articulated by people but you can still see the ways they answer them simply by their conduct and attitude to life. Any answer that they form outside of the gospel of Jesus Christ merely scratches at the itch but never finds relief. The answer to our deepest longings and questions is found in Jesus Christ; He is our only hope.
The gospel of Jesus Christ confronts and subverts our idolatry (1 Cor. 1:20-25). In this, Jesus Christ is the true “magnetic” person that we must present to the people around us.
As we engage with people who long for belonging and connection (totality), let’s point them ultimately to Jesus. Our sin has brought alienation, separation, and disconnection ultimately from God. This is the great disconnection that needs to be mended. In Christ, our communion with God, what we were truly made for, is restored. In Christ, our disconnection from God is healed. In a world of fleeting connections, let us point to Christ for there is nothing that can separate us from the love of God for us in Him (Rom. 8:38-39).
As we engage with people who long for their lives to be one of blessing, let’s point them to Jesus who is both the standard and our Savior. God’s law is an unchanging holy law. It is not arbitrary but is the law of liberty (James 1:25). God’s law is perfect and revives the soul (Ps. 19:7). The problem has always been humanity’s sinful rebellion, the suppressing of the truth, and the seeking for a god substitute. In Christ, we find the way to life and in Him we find life (John 14:6).
As we engage with people who long for deliverance, let’s point them to see both the ultimate problem and the ultimate solution. We find that the great cause and problem of all that is sad, bad, and scary in the world is a result of our enmity with God. We face his righteous wrath. Deliverance can only be found in the right mediator and savior, the God-man Jesus Christ (1 Tim. 2:5). In a world that settles for quick escapes that never last, we find in Jesus a complete restoration.
As we engage with people who long for ultimate rest, let’s point them to the One from whom come all things, who is before all things, and holds all things together (Col. 1:16-18). Life is governed by the sovereign God who is the Lord over all of creation. Life as his creature and under his rule is a life full of joy and liberating delight. It is in Christ by which we find ultimate rest for we know his heart and strength for his own.
Finally, In Jesus Christ, we are able to know who God truly is (1 John 5:20). He is not an abstract unknown. He is not an impersonal force. God is absolute and personal. God is the One who is both transcendent and immanent. God is both judge and savior. Let us point those around us to the God who has reached down to us in the person of Jesus Christ for from his fullness we have received, grace upon grace (John 1:16).
As we continue to share the hope of Christ with those around us, let us not only identify these magnetic points but ultimately point people to the true “magnetic” person, Jesus Christ. Let’s begin with ourselves. May we never grow tired and bored of Jesus. May we never lose the wonder of God’s astonishing grace. May we by His grace and strength strive to know and make known His astonishing grace.
Soli Deo Gloria,
Pastor John
