My wheat and chaff

Part two of the wheat and chaff message that God gave me is about my personal wheat and chaff. This is the really hard part that I SOOOOOO don't want to write. You know, once you've learned something in the Word of God, you are responsible for it. ARGH! Oh well. I asked for growth in Him this year. I'm getting it in spades. lol

We all have our own personal wheat and chaff to deal with. Our chaff can be watching too much tv, being disrespectful, not taking care of our responsibilities, or any number of things. The list of my personal chaff is so very very long! I'm disorganized, I watch too much TV, I am awful at housecleaning, and on and on. Yet, I have hope. I know that God is in me, strengthening me, helping me to overcome the failings of this world.

1 John 4:4 (Amplified Bible)
4Little children, you are of God [you belong to Him] and have [already] defeated and overcome them [the agents of the antichrist], because He Who lives in you is greater (mightier) than he who is in the world.

I've dramatically cut down TV time lately. I'm actually enjoying it. It started out that God said we needed to get our house together. No TV until it was all done. Um, yeah. I know He's seen just how much junk and mess we've had to go through. We made exceptions for the TV shows that we watch as a family. Actually, the kids and I discussed it, and we could get rid of our satellite TV and switch over to the free digital TV stuff since our family shows are on regular network TV. But don't tell my husband yet. We're still angling for a digital TV. hehehe

Seriously, the time without TV has been a blessing. I now realize that I like spending my morning in Bible reading and prayer and study. I'm adding that to my daily schedule as a regular thing. I still have to work on the internet time, but that will come. The main floor of the house will be finished today. The lower floor of the house will take more time since we're still redoing everything from the floods (we've had two in the last six months). I look at my schedule five years ago, and I was incredibly busy and even productive! I ran two local chapters of charities on a part time volunteer basis, and was involved in a third. I don't know what happened. I feel like I've been sleeping my life away for the past year. Yes, part of that was being ill, but part was ... well ... laziness. I can't try to hide it. Sin is sin, and we are to call it that. So, laziness is another area of chaff for me. But God (I love those two little but big words!) is delivering me from that. I still feel the call to be involved in charities. Actually, I feel it more - that I need to get out in the world if I am going to impact it for God.

Laying aside the chaff of our lives is only part of His plans for us. We are to grow the wheat so we can be of service to Him. For example, one thing that's working for me right now is the one ministry I'm involved in at church. It's the cookie ministry. Every other month or so, I bake cookies to be passed out to the visitors for that Sunday. That's one small step for me, and the family loves that I make a whole bunch of cookies. lol I have the list of things I'm supposed to be involved in, but haven't implemented it yet. I need to get moving. I need to get proactive, and leave the procrastination behind. I've been praying about how to do that.

Here's how. I look at the book of Revelation and see the many different ways God blesses us with it. The prophesy, the hope, and the planning. Yes, you read that right, the planning. God didn't say, "You know, I just don't have it in me to corral you all to go where you should. Do what you're going to do. Go with the flow." No. He has a plan that is incredibly beautiful and effective. First, the wake-up calls - the seals. Wars, earthquakes, famines, economic collapses. Then, after He has your attention, He begins the judgements to get those who are undecided to repent. The trumpets bring in more earthquakes, seas turned into blood, Wormwood, night and day changed, torture by those deviant locusts called Abaddon, killer horses and riders. We're talking some heavy duty judgements that are not just to punish, but to give those who will time to change their minds and come into the Kingdom. But God, out of His love for us, will give us two witnesses to show us His love and the way to repent. Then the earthquake when the two witnesses are called into Heaven. The seventh trumpet brings an electrical storm like no other! After the judgements comes God's wrath, and things get really bad!

God could end everything in one fell swoop. The fact that He planned out in such detail how to give us so many chances to turn to Him shows His love for us. How can I not take the time to plan out my day, according to His will? I've been doing that for the past few days, and it's really effective. Our next Bible study will be about time management, so hang in there for that. In order to grow the wheat in our lives, the good parts that God wants us to use in service to Him, you have to make the time to spend with Him. Then, He will show you what to do with the rest of your day. God gives us this in

Proverbs 3:5-6 NIV

5Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; 6in all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make your paths straight.

Seek Him first, and He will show you what to do.

I hope that this helps to give you some encouragement in your own lives. It's time for us to lay down some things and pick up the better things that God has for us. I'm getting more and more excited as His plan for this blog, and the direction He's taking my life right now, plays out. Even if no one ever reads this, He is showing me so much. I feel God's grace pouring out in my life. I have goals in my life that He's still showing me what they are and how to do them. I'll go ahead and post those when I feel like I'm at a place where I can share them.

The Wheat and the Chaff

I had a nice sweet blog planned yesterday. I was going to blog about living with food allergies (which I will still do at some point). I was going to blog about the tagging I got from a reader, but I can't. I was going to blog about ANYTHING other than what God was telling me to write about. I admit it. I didn't want to write this because, yes, I'm going there again. How many of you know that you just can't say no to Him when He has something to say?! A blog that I read, written by a woman that I admire - Candy, posted about persecution and crazy people. Here's the blog link. Check out the post about crazy people, persecution, and Meez.

http://myblessedhome.blogspot.com/

It really hit home. I knew that we are counted blessed if we are persecuted, but who really wants that. Seriously, I've seen other people get mean comments and shut down their blogs. I don't want to make waves! But, I have to. God isn't going to let me really rest until I do. So, here goes.

Luke 3:16-18 (Amplified Bible)
16John answered them all by saying, I baptize you with water; but He Who is mightier than I is coming, the strap of Whose sandals I am not fit to unfasten. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and with fire.
17His winnowing shovel (fork) is in His hand to thoroughly clear and cleanse His [threshing] floor and to gather the wheat and store it in His granary, but the chaff He will burn with fire that cannot be extinguished.
18So with many other [various] appeals and admonitions he preached the good news (the Gospel) to the people.

In order to understand this, you need the definition of chaff. Easton's 1897 Bible Dictionary defines it as...

Chaff
the refuse of winnowed corn. It was usually burned (Ex. 15:7; Isa. 5:24; Matt. 3:12). This word sometimes, however, means dried grass or hay (Isa. 5:24; 33:11). Chaff is used as a figure of abortive wickedness (Ps. 1:4; Matt. 3:12). False doctrines are also called chaff (Jer. 23:28), or more correctly rendered "chopped straw." The destruction of the wicked, and their powerlessness, are likened to the carrying away of chaff by the wind (Isa. 17:13; Hos. 13:3; Zeph. 2:2).

***I love old dictionaries. I have a really old Webster's Dictionary that has Biblical definitions for everything. I need to dig it out from the flood zone stuff and use it. ***

There are several ways to look at this passage in Luke. Many take it as how God will separate the believers from the non-believers in the Day of Judgement. Oh, how glorious (and yet sad to see those who made the wrong decision) will that Day be when we are in front of our Lord! Some people look at it as how we will be refined by the Refiner's fire in the Day of Judgement. I think that's also a correct assessment. I'd like to deal with the chaff of false doctrine though.

I read a lot of Christian women's blogs. I love hearing from other believers. However, I have noticed that sometimes, we place our own expectations on others. Does this fall under false doctrine? I think so, if it's causing someone to stumble. Don't get me wrong. We need to challenge each other to come up higher in our walk with Christ. But if you cause someone to feel like they will never be good enough to be considered a member of the Body of Christ, then you are preaching false doctrine.

I used to belong to a nameless Christian women's group. At first, everything sounded great. As long as you believed that Christ was your Savior, and His blood was shed for the forgiveness of our sins, you could join. You were welcome. Then, as you peeled back the layers of the group, you realized that you had to fulfill other conditions to really be a "member". You had to only wear skirts. You had to wear head coverings. You were never allowed to disagree with your husband (taking the submissive wife position a little too far). You had to homeschool. You had to only read one version of the Bible. On and on the conditions went. Yet the Bible says

John 3:16-18 (New International Version)

16"For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. 17For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. 18Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because he has not believed in the name of God's one and only Son.

I left that group when they started persecuting women for not agreeing with their conditions. It seemed that they were causing drama on a daily basis. I have enough drama in my life. I don't need it from a group that was supposed to edify. God said that you must believe in His Son for eternal life. That's it. There is a reason why the Bible goes on to talk about feeling condemned right after. Personally, I think that it is because God, in His infinite wisdom, knew that we would mess it up and try to put our own conditions on salvation. I have also noticed some of that legalism on people's blogs. Does that mean that I am to never ever read their blogs again?

For that matter, I've noticed many pastors coming out with theories or teachings that I don't agree with. I've had people tell me that I have to learn how to separate the wheat from the chaff with those people. But how much chaff should we be putting up with to get to the wheat? If a teacher has one good point, and many wrong ones, do we still listen to that message?

I've found the deciding factor. It's the Holy Spirit. The Amplified Bible brings this out wonderfully.

Romans 14:16-18 (Amplified Bible)
16Do not therefore let what seems good to you be considered an evil thing [by someone else]. [In other words, do not give occasion for others to criticize that which is justifiable for you.]
17[After all] the kingdom of God is not a matter of [getting the] food and drink [one likes], but instead it is righteousness (that state which makes a person acceptable to God) and [heart] peace and joy in the Holy Spirit.
18He who serves Christ in this way is acceptable and pleasing to God and is approved by men.

Notice that we are to consider the kingdom of God as righteousness, peace and joy in the Holy Spirit - not the stuff. It's not the skirts or jeans or head coverings, or even the version of the Bible you read. It's the righteousness of God, and the peace and joy you feel in the Holy Spirit.

Here's how this works in practical life. Candy's blog, which I LOVE (see the link above), is one that I read frequently. She is skirts/dresses only, KJV only, and eats dairy. I don't really wear skirts or dress (or own them for that matter), I love several versions of the Bible, and would cause a biological hazard (as well as be hospitalized) if I ate dairy. Yet, I am so greatly blessed by her blog. I've read the discussions she's had about the areas we don't agree on, and I respect them. But, I've prayed about these things, and for me, for now, I'm settled with where I am. I don't embrace every version of the Bible. God has stopped me from reading most versions. But, there are some that He has shown me great things in. I always have to check with Him to be sure what I hear is true. That should go for everything, no matter what we believe. That Holy Spirit check that I get when I'm doing something wrong, or that Holy Spirit release I feel when I'm doing something right, is what guides me.

Here's another practical example. There is a well known pastor that I used to listen to a lot. I heard his teachings when he first came out on the national scene. I was truly blessed by the things he was saying. This is when I was a baby Christian, and hungry to find out just even how to begin serving God. This pastor laid a great foundation for me. As I grew in Christ, and he grew in popularity, I started noticing some contradictions. He was saying things that were against what I was reading in the Bible, and against what he himself had said just a few years prior. Eventually, I had to stop listening to him. The chaff was outweighing the wheat. Does that mean that I discount his foundational messages? Not at all. Those messages are wheat. I have to pray that he comes back to his first love - God. Again, I had to let God show me and guide me through His word and the Holy Spirit what my actions were to be.

One last example. Causing other people to stumble. That one is hard. Sometimes you have to ask God if you are challenging a person or causing them to doubt. We aren't to water down the Word of God, but we are to be loving about it. I was saved at a very difficult time in my life. My first marriage was falling apart. Right after I got saved, we almost lost our son to a bad reaction to a vaccination. Work was challenging in a high school drama kind of way. So, I get saved. A well-meaning person in the church counseled me about how life was going to change. My ex-husband wasn't saved, and I didn't know how to handle the situation. This person told me that if I really was a Christian, I should be able to pray him into salvation in the next month. Well, months later, with no change in him at all (things were actually getting worse), I found myself doubting that I was really saved. I started going to the altar every service to get saved. I had people laying hands on me to figure out why it wasn't working! It's a wonder I have any hair so many people prayed over me.

Finally, I called the church in desperation and asked for a mentor. I figured that having a person I could talk to one on one would help me learn what I was doing wrong. This Godly woman blessed me so much. She took the time to explain just how wrong that first person was. But, that one comment set me back probably a year. We have to caution ourselves that we are not causing others to stumble like that. We are to challenge, not condemn. We know which we are doing by being faithful to God and listening to the Holy Spirit.

I hope I've made sense with this post. I know that I'll be back on this subject again when God says it's time. In such a time as this, we need to learn how to measure everything we do against His word and His leading. Time is running short! Jesus said this...

Revelation 22:12-13 (Amplified Bible)

12Behold, I am coming soon, and I shall bring My wages and rewards with Me, to repay and render to each one just what his own actions and his own work merit.
13I am the Alpha and the Omega, the First and the Last (the Before all and the End of all).

Praise Him! I can't wait!