Last night, at our small group, we were reading John chapter 15, which opens with this set of verses (1 &2),
“I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener. He cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit, while every branch that does bear fruit he prunes so that it will be even more fruitful."The key to understanding this fully is in understanding how growing fruit works from a gardening sense. At the time, Jesus was talking to people who were familiar with agriculture and this illustration would have been meaningful to them.
Consider a fruit vine. There is the long vine that connects the roots to the branches. When the person who cares for the vine inspects it, they are looking at the health of the branches. If a branch is dead or dying and bears no fruit, they remove it completely so that it is not draining the resources of the vine as a whole and taking away energy and food that the other branches could use to create fruit. Now if the branch is living, it is pruned back closer to the vine. This again reduces the energy needed to keep the branch alive so that all that energy can go into producing fruit.
Now if you consider that is a people sense. Jesus is the vine and we are the branches. Jesus is saying that energy will not be wasted on those who do not bear fruit, but for those that do, they will be pruned so that they may bear more (sweeter and better) fruit. If you think about it, the process is not painless, because pruning is involved for this to happen. As good as we are, and as good as the fruit is that we are producing in the world and people around us, we will be pruned. God is removing the parts of us that drain our resources and ability to bear good fruit: pride that holds us back from fully embracing another in love, anger that is used in the wrong way, stubbornness that prevents us from saying or doing what could turn a situation around. God is working to remove those from our character, and bring us closer to the person we were created to be.
As we were discussing this idea, I had to hijack my own lesson to share a video created by the Skit Guy called God's Chisel. This humorous and moving skit talks about the idea of God shaping us to improve us, but also reminds us that God does not create junk. We are worthy of God's time and effort to mold us into the persons we are created to be.
As you consider all of this, remember that being shaped and molded sometimes is painful, but the end result is better. Perhaps God is working on you in a way that feels painful and you wish you wouldn't have to suffer in the process. Think about the end result and how much better it will be. God promised that life with God would be better...not easy.
How is God pruning you today? Are you resisting or are you letting God take away the things that hold you back?
P.S. I just couldn't resist the alliteration in the title...no apologies :-)
