Yet, the very complex library of books we call the Bible also teaches us that the sovereignty of God is wider than our limits. So we see strong evidence, especially in the Gospels, that those who would claim righteousness for themselves or their party are often disappointed. As I meditate on the Parable of the Wheat and the Chaff, I believe we are being told to live together with one another anticipating the time when God will decide who is wheat and who is chaff. Jonah certainly thought that Ninevites were chaff, but God loved them in a way that was hard for Jonah to understand. To study scripture is to realize that all parties wrestling with God s kingdom speak some truth.
None speak the whole truth and nothing but the truth.
That is why we need each other. Therefore, you and I, sinners in need of God s Grace, are called to live together in community and seek his whole truth. By the way, searching for beams and motes in others, is not endorsed. Yet as we meditate on the Good Samaritan, the Pharisee and the Tax Collector, Zaccheus, the older son in the Prodigal, we begin to understand that God s understanding of wheat and chaff may be quite different from our own. I tell you this to help you understand where my spiritual center is and to give you an insight into the decisions I will need to make within the boundaries of the responsibility you have given me.