Tonight I was outside mowing the yard and Nicole and Marcus came out on the front porch to watch me in action. I stopped for a few minutes to hang out with them. Marcus was sitting on my lap so Nicole started to pick at the bushes. She was breaking off limbs from a small tree we have in the flower garden. We spent about $35 on that tree so I became a little nervous and asked my wife, “What are you doing?” (Note: The tree never has taken off like we thought and Nicole has been convinced that it’s dead so I just figured she was finishing it off.) Her response to me was quick, “I’m pruning them.” I asked, “Why?” And here’s the lesson from my wife…she reminded me of a principle with her answer, “I’m breaking off the dead parts so they stop sucking the life out of the live parts.”
HMMMMM….
That sounds familiar doesn’t it.
John 15:1-4
1“I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener. 2He 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. 3You are already clean because of the word I have spoken to you. 4Remain 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.
I don’t know about you but I have a hard time with this concept of pruning. I thought my wife was going to kill that little tree in our front yard. The first thing that came to my mind wasn’t that this process would make this tree more vibrant.
When it comes to my life I’m not a big fan of this process. I get comfortable with where I am. My current situation. The way things have always been. And when I think about God pruning me I honestly think it will kill me.
But it’s just not the case. In fact my wife and Jesus point out that the only way I will continue to grow and bear good fruit is if God cuts some things off that are not bearing fruit, if he prunes back the dead things in my life that are taking up room.
There’s a couple other things that come to mind when I think about this process.
1. The church. Sometimes God wants to prune our churches. Whether it’s members changing. Traditions changing. Staff changing. Leaders changing. Most of the time when we are going through these times our first thought is the church is going to die. So many key people are leaving. Staff members are changing. Traditions are being tested. Surely it must be spiritual warfare. But what if it’s God pruning the church? Making it more healthy? Making it more fruitful? Making it possible for the church to bear fruit that will last?
2. Retreating. We live crazy busy lives. The tree of my life has 100,000 different limbs. Going in 100,000 different directions. And I think that the more going on in my life then the more of a difference I am making. But the reality is we need times to retreat. God needs to come in and prune us and slow us down. I read a blog by a pastor once and he was getting ready to take his staff on a planning get-a-way. He said in his blog that they were calling this weekend “Advance” because their church never retreats they are always advancing. I don’t think that’s a Jesus idea. I always see Jesus retreating which makes it possible for God to do a great work through him. Is there set times in your life when you retreat so that God can cut off the excess that is sucking the life out of the things that God has called you to?
Today my wife reminded me of a very important lesson. Now I’m looking around at my life, my church and my schedule and wondering where God needs to come through and prune me so that I might bear good fruit.
