Jesus will gather you!
Matthew 3:12- “His winnowing shovel is in his hand, and he will thoroughly clean out his threshing floor. He will gather his wheat into the barn, but he will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire.” (EHV)
If it looks like a duck…if it walks like a duck…if it sounds like a duck…it must be a duck. All the evidence determines what it is. Many times at crime scenes, the detectives must collect evidence to determine what happened and who did it. What evidence would God find to determine whether you are wheat, or weed?
We all would like to think that if God looked at the evidence, he would see that we are wheat that should be harvested and brought into his barn. But is that true? What kind of evidence do you produce in your life? It starts with how often we succumb to the devil’s temptation and our own sinful desires. Satan has plenty of evidence for a slam and dunk case against us. He can point out every sin and wicked thing we have done. Not only that, but God knows it as well, because he knows all things. He was there when we fell into temptation. He was there when we gave into our sinful desires. How terrible to know that all the evidence points us to one sad and sobering fact, we are born weeds. All that is left for us is the winnowing shovel and the unquenchable fire.
How can we be wheat destined for God’s barn? Jesus had bound up all of your sin and guilt and placed it on himself. He was burned with unquenchable fire while hanging on the cross. Then he planted in you his holy righteousness. Now he only sees you as wheat that he will gather into his barn. This is the amazing grace and love Christ presented to us the first time he came to the world. This is the reason why we have nothing to fear when he comes again. The devil cannot produce any evidence of our sin because it was burned at the cross. The only evidence left will show you to be wheat. You are destined for the barn of heaven, where you will feast with the Lord forever!
Dear Lord. Thank you for making us wheat by taking our sin and its guilt to the cross. Help us live with confidence as we wait for you to return and gather us into your barn. In your name we pray. Amen!