Today's Daily Lesson comes from Matthew chapter 3 verse 12:
"His winnowing fork is in his hand, and he will clear his threshing floor and gather his wheat into the barn, but the chaff he will burn with unquenchable fire."
In ancient agricultural practice, the winnowing process involved the breaking open of the outer shell of wheat on the threshing floor. An animal might be used to pull a sled-like tool around the floor, breaking open the wheat's shell. A winnowing fork would then be used to toss the wheat up into a moderate wind. The outer shell, known as the chaff, would then be blown away while the heavier kernel of the wheat grain would fall to the ground. The chaff would then be swept up and burned and the wheat gathered into the barn for the winter.
John the Baptist said God is in the winnowing business, trampling over us, tossing us around, burning us up. All this to break us down, to crack us open, and to get at what is hidden beneath our hard, protective shell.
It sounds like something a Baptist's God would do.
No comments:
Post a Comment