By Carol Round – “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 (NIV).
Planting flowers in the spring is one of my favorite activities. But if I want to see them grow and thrive, I must take care of them. Watering is number one followed by fertilizing them every two weeks.
Petunias have never been one of my favorite flowers. Despite watering and fertilizing the plants, they never seem to retain their beauty after I bring them home from the store. Then, a neighbor explained the need for deadheading the spent blooms.
Deadheading means removing the spent blossoms to allow the plant to produce more blooms. Recently, I had an epiphany as I removed the spent flowers from one of my three petunia plants. John 15:2 came to mind. Just as I deadhead my petunia plants to produce more blooms, God prunes us so we can produce more fruit.
Producing More Fruit
In one of his final messages to His disciples, Jesus uses a gardening metaphor to help them understand the importance of growing spiritually and drawing strength from Him—the true vine.
If a vineyard-keeper wants to produce good fruit, he doesn’t let his fruit grow wildly. He prunes the branches—an intentional process. Because he wants good fruit, He tends to the vines. Before the grapes are made into wine, pruning must occur.
God’s pruning of His children is also intentional. We’re set apart from the world to bear fruit for His Kingdom. And though we are unique individuals, the pruning process will be different for each of us But the purpose of pruning is the same—to become more like Jesus.
Becoming More Like Jesus
We might consider pruning as a punishment from God. But it’s not about punishing us. He uses pruning to take us to the next step in our spiritual maturity. During the process, He is removing those things from our lives that hinder our spiritual growth.
At the same time, He’s preparing us to become more dependent on Him. And though we might become discouraged during the pruning process, His purpose is to teach us to abide in Christ, meaning He wants us to live in obedient dependence on Jesus. Our Heavenly Father also prunes His children so they will glorify Him. In John 15:8, Jesus says, “By this my Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit and so prove to be my disciples.”
Author P.B. Wilson says, “When God prunes us, the result will be greater growth and sweeter fruit. Pruning usually takes place when God uses situations, people, and circumstances to help mature us in our Christian disposition, attitude, and temperament. The way we respond when we are pruned reveals our true level of spiritual maturity.” Without pruning, we’ll never achieve the level of maturity God wants for us.
I always love hearing from my readers. Please e-mail me at [email protected] with your thoughts or visit my blog for more inspiration at www.carolaround.com. If you need a speaker or workshop leader, contact me at the above e-mail address or through my website. I’d be delighted to hear from you.
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