Last week, one of our topics was how the ways of our culture and the teachings of Jesus are frequently not in sync. He is another example that just doesn’t make sense in our culture until we take a deeper look.

When I was a kid, every year right around late March or early April my brothers and I would take a Saturday morning and help Dad prune the grapevines that we had growing at home. I never understood why we had to prune these every year. In a child’s mind (and in the mind of our culture), the thinking goes something like this, “We are we cutting these branches back? Wouldn’t we get more grapes if there were longer branches?” (Isn’t more better? Isn’t bigger better?)

Now, as an adult I understand the process of pruning. I don’t have grapes but I do have about 20 different roses on my property that I prune every spring when the first buds start to form.

Why do we prune every season? Because the process of pruning allows the plants energy to focus on new growth. Diseased and older, less useful areas of the plant are eliminated so the plants energy can be used to focus on new growth. For grapes, this allows the vine to produce a better tasting grape. For roses, pruning gives the plant more blooms and more vibrant blooms.

Jesus compares Himself to the “true vine” and His Father to “the gardener” (John 15:1). He goes on to say, “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,” (John 15:2-3).

I love how Jesus gave us something we can tangibly see and understand (the physical description of pruning) and uses it to explain to us how His Father works in the lives of those He loves.

Jesus prunes us so that we get rid of those things in our life that are taking us away from Him. It is very easy in our culture to “grow” many, many useless branches in our life. Often times it happens so slowly and steadily in our lives that we don’t even realize that we have choked out our life-giving force. We need to constantly ask God to search our lives for what needs to be pruned so we can produce more and more fruit for Him!

This week, take some time to look back at your life. When were there times of pruning in your life? What fruit came out of those times?

Now think about your life today. What are some things that The Gardener may be wanting to prune from your life today?

Make no mistake, the pruning process can be painful and difficult, but we must have faith that God is shaping us into the people He wants us to be.

More to come…
Jeremy