Have you ever pruned a tree or seen a bush pruned back? In the moment, those bare branches look like they might not make it. But later on, in the next season of growth, the leaves and fruit on the branch show a new level of health.
We know John 15 talks about connection to Jesus, and His Father the Vinedresser- a connection where we are invited to remain in Him and because of remaining in Him, we bear the fruit of the Spirit. Through connection to Jesus in our core being, our outward being shows Him and His character…but why the pruning away, why is this a concept integral to the connection and the fruit bearing?
Sure, we understand sin would need to be pruned off; light can have no place with darkness. But pruning in the life of a believer goes so much further and deeper…
I think of times in Scripture where God used a little bit, just the right amount, to accomplish His purpose. One example is Gideon and his army that God kept cutting back to relatively nothing! And they overwhelmingly prevailed against their enemy.
In my life, God has done some pruning. I didn’t realize that’s what it was. But I see now that much of the pain of 2023 for me was God’s careful knife. Yes, it had to hurt. Pieces of dreams, expectations, even memories had to be carved right out of me. This might not make sense to anyone who is not living in Christ (Colossians 3), but I had to break up with my love affair of my one life, my one story.
As wonderful as my life is, I had to die to what I have not achieved and never will. I had to die to the lies I could choose to believe about myself based on those failures. I had to die to what my body felt like and looked like and could and couldn’t do. I had to die to the resentment that comes up when I see injustice around the world; I had to die to allowing myself to entertain the lies of the enemy about God’s love and power. I had to die to what I wanted my family to be and do. As I said, as wonderful as my life and my family are, I had to die to how my children “turn out” and what my marriage even looks like. Every time a disappointment comes along, whether on a small scale where I die to self because I see it is not mine to control, or on a big scale where I humble myself before God and say again, “You are God and I am not; I trust You as your child, not your wanna be hotshot world changer”, I am being pruned.
And why?
Because Jesus doesn’t carry that stuff on His branches. He does not serve two masters. He is 100% in. His thoughts are not torn between self and the Father. His love is selfless; His wisdom, flawless. His patience and understanding are…so unlike me. Hence the pruning…it is to not just teach us about Jesus, but actually transform us to be more like Jesus!!!
I have to lose these connections to my self and my life in order to live out the rest of John 15, the connection to Him, whereby I find my actual, simplified, clear, and authentic Life.
Can we consider our pain as pruning? Can we see how it is separating us from the love of our own rights and lives; can we see how it is ridding us of the addiction we have to comfort and control and the ideal everything?
This is painful but it is so good. For the believer, He may well be the one holding the knife but it is only in response to our prayers of asking to be more like Jesus and less like the world. And the one who holds the knife is simultaneously holding the Living Water and the Balm of Gilead and oil of gladness…beauty for ashes. He won’t leave that space empty, will we let Him fill it with Himself?
This is what abiding is.
Come Lord Jesus. Abide with us in our tears. Take away what is taking our focus off of You and Your purposes here. Help us believe there is good reason to simplify our loves and pour all we are on You. Help us know we don’t need to keep adding on, but rather that You are in the process of subtraction, yet true wholeness. In Jesus’ Name, Amen.
