When Jesus Beats You Up

Scripture

Our verse for today comes from Luke 3:17, “His winnowing fan is in His hand, and He will thoroughly clean out His threshing floor, and gather the wheat into His barn; but the chaff He will burn with unquenchable fire.”

Background

Growing up in my house, we kids had a definite opinion concerning white and whole wheat breads. Basically, white bread was perfect for peanut butter, making toast, or for any other type of sandwich. Wheat bread was inedible and only fit for adults. The difference was so extreme that something as horrible as a vegetable might even be preferred over a whole wheat sandwich. As drastic as that might sound, consider the difference between the wheat and the chaff on the threshing floor. The sheaves of wheat had been trod on, beat with a flail, or trampled by an ox, if not all three, so as to separate the kernels of wheat from the stalks. Then after the mess had been swept into a pile, a fork or a fan, which was more of a basket or scoop, was used to throw the mixture up in the air so the wind could blow away the lighter chaff, and the heavier grains of wheat would fall back to the floor, to be gathered and put in the barn. But in John the Baptist’s description, Jesus will gather the wheat into His barn, and burn the chaff with unquenchable fire.

Application

Now my peanut butter on wheat sandwich was hard to swallow, but it probably didn’t deserve unquenchable fire. But Jesus says that He will either gather you up with Him, or you will burn in that very fire. And that should give us reason to pause and consider. When you’ve been trampled and beaten and stomped on, which pile do you end up in? Is your life of faith such that it falls back into the wheat that Jesus gathers, or do you produce a bunch of chaff through your own merits and efforts? When you’re offended, overlooked, passed over, or mistreated, does that blow you towards the fire or closer to the arms of Jesus? When you are a follower of Jesus, you are secure in His barn. There is no fire that can touch you. So don’t let any winnowing fan of the world try to entice you with its chaff. Remember where it comes from and where it will end up. Unquenchable is a very long time.

Charge

As we seek Him today, thank God for whatever you’re going through on your threshing floor. Thank Him for wanting to rid you of your chaff, and open your heart to letting go.