Messing with Polarity

Dan Harper September 03, 2026 5 3

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Romans 12: 9–21 (NIV-UK)

9 Love must be sincere. Hate what is evil; cling to what is good. 10 Be devoted to one another in love. Honour one another above yourselves. 11 Never be lacking in zeal, but keep your spiritual fervour, serving the Lord. 12 Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer. 13 Share with the Lord’s people who are in need. Practise hospitality.

14 Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse. 15 Rejoice with those who rejoice; mourn with those who mourn. 16 Live in harmony with one another. Do not be proud, but be willing to associate with people of low position. Do not be conceited.

17 Do not repay anyone evil for evil. Be careful to do what is right in the eyes of everyone. 18 If it is possible, as far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone. 19 Do not take revenge, my dear friends, but leave room for God’s wrath, for it is written: ‘It is mine to avenge; I will repay,’ says the Lord. 20 On the contrary:

‘If your enemy is hungry, feed him;
    if he is thirsty, give him something to drink.
In doing this, you will heap burning coals on his head.’

21 Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.

Did you know that without magnets the speakers inside your phone wouldn’t work?

A combination of metals are made into various alloys, and with more clever chemistry and physics, we get powerful little magnets that are made into switches, vibration units and more. All of which are crucial for phones working as we know them.

I love magnets. They can be used to push and pull, to attract and repel. Some are tiny, almost invisible, and some are huge and can pick up cars.

People are like magnets; some can lift cars and some are tiny, but more so that some people we feel naturally drawn to, and others we would happily push away if they got too close.

It is this human magnetism, the fact that we are attracted to some people and repelled by others, that makes today’s reading particularly annoying. In his letter to the church in Rome Paul tells us that to let our love be real, we will need to bless those who persecute us, and even feed our enemy.

Paul is determined that followers of Jesus should not simply live according to the normal laws of attraction and repulsion, challenging us to draw close to those we want to push back from. And to push away from those who want to draw us into attitudes that are unkind or abusive.

It is the polarity of a magnet that deicides the way in which it attracts and repels other magnets, and in knowing we can be like magnets perhaps God's love messes with our polarity.

Prayer:

Dear God,

When we are tempted simply to push away, help us find the courageous, difficult and genuine way of love.

Amen.