Up in Smoke

Spring is on the way and I decided to get the yard prepped for the upcoming job of cutting the grass.  We spent a large part of Saturday in the yard, picking up tree limbs that had fallen during the winter then burning them in a huge bonfire.  As we worked on getting these unwanted limbs and leaves reduced to ashes, I thought about a phrase that I often heard preached when I was younger: "burning the chaff".  John the Baptist said the following.

Matthew 3:11-12  "I indeed baptize you with water unto repentance, be He who is coming after me is mightier than I, whose sandals I am not worthy to carry.  He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire.  His winnowing fan is in His hand, and He will thoroughly clean out His threshing floor, and gather His wheat into the barn; but He will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire."

The words "winnowing" and "chaff" are not terms that I use in everyday conversation.  And unless you grow wheat, you probably don't either.  Here are their meanings. 
winnowing: freeing grain from the lighter particles of chaff, dirt, etc, especially by throwing it into the air and allowing the wind or a forced current of air to blow away impurities.

chaff: the husks of grains and grasses that are separated during threshing; worthless matter; refuse.

Wheat is heavier and more substantial than the chaff surrounding it.  When the wheat is gathered, the chaff that grew around it is removed.  In these verses Christians are the wheat that Jesus will one day gather.  And like the wheat, we are surrounded by worthless matter and dirt that He will remove completely as He takes us to heaven.  Our chaff could be things like anxiety, anger, insecurity, fear, pain, sickness, pride, stress, jealousy, and many others. Won't we feel great when all our chaff goes up in smoke!