Pruning for excellence
This week is on John 15:1-4:
Pruning never looks right to the untrained eye. I saw a man hacking pieces off of a small tree near where I work, the other day. If I didn't know better, I would have had no idea why he was cutting off branches. My mother told me once that when she first saw my father pruning her lilacs, she thought he'd killed the whole plant. When people prune roses, they often cut them practically down to the ground. Same deal with raspberries. Pruning seems violent and even dangerous, when looked at from a perspective that doesn't understand the art of it.
The Greek word for "pruning" used in these verses can also mean "cleaning." I think of it as optimizing. Jesus prunes us and shapes us in order to optimize us as his fruit-bearing creations. But from our naive perspective, what does that look like sometimes? Real live stuff gets hacked off of us, or hacked out of our lives. It seems brutal, or unfair. It doesn't make any sense to us.
When things like that do happen, it's for the best. Part of holding onto a relationship with Jesus Christ is being able to accept those sorts of difficult times and unmet expectations, which ultimately work out better than we'd hoped.
Stay connected with Jesus and be willing to have your life pruned from time to time for your own good. It may look rough at first, but it's necessary if you'd like to fulfill your purpose.
"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. You are already clean because of the word I have spoken to you. Remain in me, and I will remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me."
Pruning never looks right to the untrained eye. I saw a man hacking pieces off of a small tree near where I work, the other day. If I didn't know better, I would have had no idea why he was cutting off branches. My mother told me once that when she first saw my father pruning her lilacs, she thought he'd killed the whole plant. When people prune roses, they often cut them practically down to the ground. Same deal with raspberries. Pruning seems violent and even dangerous, when looked at from a perspective that doesn't understand the art of it.
The Greek word for "pruning" used in these verses can also mean "cleaning." I think of it as optimizing. Jesus prunes us and shapes us in order to optimize us as his fruit-bearing creations. But from our naive perspective, what does that look like sometimes? Real live stuff gets hacked off of us, or hacked out of our lives. It seems brutal, or unfair. It doesn't make any sense to us.
When things like that do happen, it's for the best. Part of holding onto a relationship with Jesus Christ is being able to accept those sorts of difficult times and unmet expectations, which ultimately work out better than we'd hoped.
Stay connected with Jesus and be willing to have your life pruned from time to time for your own good. It may look rough at first, but it's necessary if you'd like to fulfill your purpose.
rrr, not fun, but a good reminder, thanks.
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