Dictionary.com defines the verb winnow:  to free (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. This is the exact process that grain farmers do to the threshed grain harvest to separate the chaff, small stalks, dirt, and impurities so that what remains only are the full-grown grains. I can attest and vouched for this winnowing process because I was once a rice farmer way back in the Philippines.

There are two groups of products that always come out from the winnowing process – the full grain and the non-grain (chaff, dirt, impurities, etc). Full-grain products are the most important ones which grain farmers further subject to drying, cleaning, and preserving in order for farmers derive economic benefits. The last group of products – the non-grains (chaff, etc.) are discarded as they are blown by the wind and inasmuch as they carry no economic value at all.

In a church setting, not all who attend a congregation are genuine believers. There are also believers-in-disguise. And it is not easy to identify the genuine believers and the believers-in-disguise – until winnowing time. During that time, genuine believers in Christ will remain as full grains no matter how strong the blowing wind is, but the chaff will be blown away far.

For purposes of visual identification, the chaff has the same form, structure, and color of a full grain. It differs from the grain only in weight inasmuch as inside the core of the chaff, it is empty. Hence, it is easily driven by the wind.

Psalms 1: 4 says ⁴ Not so the wicked! They are like chaff that the wind blows away.

People may label me judgmental or pharisaical but I stand firm to what the Bible says. Psalm 1:4 speaks for itself about the analogy of the wicked and the chaff. I need not say anything more.

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