The Word Given: Chaff
Chaff is the tiny pieces of the wheat plant that is literally of no use whatsoever. When the wheat is dry, this chaff peals back and separates from the kernel.
Matthew 3:7-12
But when he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees coming to his baptism, he said to them, “Brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the wrath to come? Therefore bear fruits worthy of repentance, and do not think to say to yourselves, We have Abraham as our father.’ For I say to you that God is able to raise up children to Abraham from these stones. And even now the ax is laid to the root of the trees. Therefore every tree which does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. I indeed baptize you with water unto repentance, but 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.”
Chaff is the tiny pieces of the wheat plant that is literally of no use whatsoever. When the wheat is dry, this chaff peals back and separates from the kernel. It then causes problems with the grinding of the wheat particles as they are made into flour.
In order to divide these, the piles of wheat are tossed into the air and the much lighter bits of chaff are blown away with the light wind. Then the chaff gathers to the side of the threshing floor and taken and burnt.
The point that John is trying to say is that God knows the heart. It maybe that the chaff blends in with the wheat, but God will divide them, and the true Children of God will be taken to be with Him and the fake Christians will find themselves in a blazing fired, forever destroyed!
As we look at our lives in our relationship with God, let us never become the chaff. Let us always know that we are, first and foremost, wheat kernels (spiritually speaking) that can be used in the Kingdom for a greater purpose and benefit to others.