God Values What I Don't

WHEAT AND CHAFF

At a conference I attended everyone was invited to share an item that expressed what God was doing and had done in their life.  One man from Kansas brought some ripened wheat stalks.  I was drawn to these and asked if I could have one to take with me through the days to ponder.  I asked him to show me the grain and the chaff on the wheat stalk.

Wind winnowing is an agricultural method developed by ancient cultures for separating grain from chaff. It is also used to remove weevils or other pests from stored grain. Threshing, the separation of grain or seeds from the husks and straw, is the step in the chaff-removal process that comes before winnowing. "Winnowing the chaff" is a common expression.

In its simplest form it involves throwing the mixture into the air so that the wind blows away the lighter chaff, while the heavier grains fall back down for recovery. Techniques included using a winnowing fan (a shaped basket shaken to raise the chaff) or using a tool (a winnowing fork or shovel) on a pile of harvested grain. (Wikipedia)

I remember taking the stalk of wheat with me for a while before God spoke to me.  He told me that much of what I consider wheat in my life, he calls chaff, and much of what I consider chaff in my life, he calls wheat.  There are weaknesses and trials that I still feel shame about that God considers precious.  I wish such things were not part of my past at all, but some of them are dear to God.  Why?  Did he want me to be weak or defeated?  No, he sees these as the places I drew near to him for hope and encouragement, places where I came to trust him deeply.  "He is like a tree planted by streams of water which yields its fruit in season and whose leaf does not wither.  Whatever he does prospers."  (Ps. 1:3)  Through these times I planted myself in and near to God.

SEPARATION FROM SUCCESS

I also saw that what I thought to be my best "assets" were things that God had much less interest in.  They were even things that he was trying to separate me from.  Why?  Was he afraid of my doing well or succeeding in something?  No, I believe that many of these abilities and gifts are from him.  I just have a drive to depend on these things to increase my value.  My best talents and abilities are chaff to my Father because he values me apart from them and wants me to see myself the same way.  Wickedness is based upon this drive to be valued apart from God's love for me.  "The wicked are like the chaff that the wind blows away."  (Ps. 1:4)  Grounding my value in my talents and abilities exposes me to continual efforts to raise myself above other people, so that I will be blown here and there by every wind that comes along.

John the Baptist said of Jesus, "His winnowing fork is in his hand."  (Matthew 3:12)  One of the primary works of the kingdom of God is this separation.  Such separation will inevitably lead to each person's eternal destiny - sheep from goats, good fish from bad fish, fruitful trees from unfruitful ones, etc.  This is a warning.  But it is not merely that.  It is also a plea.  Jesus came to separate people from their sins which are always bound up in a heart that values things incorrectly.  When my value lies in what I can accomplish or in how talented I am or in what people say about me, even if it is for the work of God, then I am on the fast track to destruction.

FRUITLESS OR FRUITFUL?

The grain or the fruit of my life lies in the dearness and nearness of God.  A fruitless life is not one in which I accomplish seemingly little, but one in which I grow increasingly sad and bitter against God and other people because they do not think of me as much as I think they should think of me.  Such a life yields only chaff.  It may seem big and quite satisfying because so much of my time is filled up with it, but in the end it is empty, "chasing after the wind" as Ecclesiastes says.  Chaff chases the wind because it has no real substance to ground it.  Such efforts are most quickly recognized because they wither in the sun of persecution and trouble.  Without real trust in God and deep love for him, such efforts will not build anything nor last long.  Lots of smoke, but little heat.

A fruitful life is one in which God accomplishes a lot through the little things I do.  One of the things that made Jesus so remarkable was that even the "big" things he did were small to him.  One time when I played racquetball with a remarkable player.  He was not built like a tank nor was he faster than a speeding bullet.  It was just that ever move he made counted and the smallest flick of his wrist could slam the ball slow low and fast that I could never reach it.  His mastery was not measured by his striving and effort, but by his ease incredible power.  So Jesus could be relaxed and loving and yet so controlled and powerful.

Because of my drive to try to make it without God which is enforced and encouraged generally in most human systems, "the stone that the builders rejected has become the capstone."  (Mark 12:10)  Jesus explains that much of my value system is directed wrongly.  What I consider worth building and working one, God has abandoned as worthless, like building a house or a city on a flood plain, "sinking sand."  The very thing that seems to weak and small to bear the stress of my life becomes, through God's mercy and grace, the very stone that can support my whole life.

I am directed to know Christ more fully through whatever I can and not worry about how much effect those things might have nor about how such things might make me more valuable.  I need merely to ground myself in how much God values me and the rest will work itself out.  My talents and abilities will become my servants and friends instead of my masters.  They will be used with a careless ease instead of a worried drive.  I will be able to find the joy of working in God's strength and gently laughing at my own.

Lord, I so enjoy writing and thinking about your thoughts as laid out in the Bible.  They are my delight and life to me.  Continue to separate the wheat and grain in my life through joy and laughter. Amen.