February 17

Wheat or Chaff?

Even tax collectors came to be baptized. “Teacher,” they asked, “what should we do?” — Luke 3:12 BSB

The imagery used by John the Baptist is vivid and powerful. In the harvest process, wheat is gathered, threshed, and separated from the chaff. After the wheat is stored, the worthless chaff is burned. In John’s metaphor, God’s people, those who have repented and believed, are like wheat, while the unrepentant and unbelieving are like chaff. Christ’s gospel has a dual aspect. The same power that gathers and preserves the wheat also drives away and destroys the chaff. The question we must ask ourselves is: are we wheat or chaff?

There is a great difference between wheat and chaff. Wheat has life in it—it can be planted, grow, and produce more wheat. It is food that nourishes and sustains. Wheat is valuable and highly prized. Chaff, on the other hand, is lifeless. It cannot grow or produce anything. It has no nutritional value and is considered worthless, good only to be thrown away or burned. Which description fits our lives?

What could be sadder than a human life, created to be like golden wheat, full of potential to bless others, but instead proving to be worthless chaff? Regardless of the final judgment, no one with an immortal soul and the capacity for infinite usefulness should be content to live a life of chaff. We are meant to be children of God, heirs of glory, destined for eternal life in heaven. Shall we turn away from this high calling and, through unbelief and foolishness, doom ourselves to be swept away like chaff into unquenchable fire?