“I am the true vine, and My Father is the vinedresser.
Every branch in Me that does not bear fruit He takes away; and every branch that bears fruit He prunes,
that it may bear more fruit.”
~Jesus, John 15:1-2
“Every branch that bears fruit He prunes…”
Pruning hardly seems like a worthy reward for living a godly life.
I was talking to a friend yesterday who has been going through a pruning season and there are lots of questions.
I know this person to be an ardent lover of Jesus, someone who is a mature believer who has borne much fruit,
someone who loves and lives by the Word that proceeds from the mouth of God.
But it’s been a tough year facing the serious illness of a loved one, financial and work related trials and more.
The person has been leading a holy lifestyles, truly imitating Jesus.
Why, how could this happen?
We know (academically) what the Scriptures teach, we should also know what Jesus told us to expect…
when we walk with Him trials of many types may come at any time…
Pruning, refining, polishing will happen, must happen, so we can bear even more fruit, which sounds great, and reasonable.
As long as it’s somebody else being pruned.
It never gets any easier to process, never any more comfortable to square off against adversity.
How do we handle things when it’s our lives, our plans, that go sideways?
Many of us live in cultures like America where we are sold a gospel of only prosperity along with thornless rose gardens.
That’s not the truth though…
The truth is that no matter how long we have been or will be believers, wholeheartedly obeying His commandments and
imitating Him we have absolutely no idea what even the next 5 minutes holds, or even our next breath or heartbeat.
The pain and confusion we may feel when some of our “friends” take us aside gently (or sometimes not so gently) to whisper counsel,
letting us know that perhaps our own unrighteousness and hidden sins have brought the hardships we are enduring down on us.
I believe though that God’s Word tells us otherwise; consider Job, the lives (and deaths of all but one of Jesus’ disciples),
the Apostle Paul, the countless followers of Jesus who laid down their lives as martyrs throughout history
including 90,000 in 2015 alone, and the punishment which Jesus Himself, the only sinless One, endured for our sakes.
Charles Spurgeon said, “The Lord gets His best soldiers out of the highlands of affliction.”
Consider the following examples:
Farmers in Israel grow the sweetest melons and other produce in desert environments using brackish geothermal water.
Coal under immense heat and pressure produces diamonds.
Iron ore is ripped from the earth, crushed and superheated in furnaces, then beaten into forged steel, the strongest steel there is.
Beautiful flowers are crushed, their essences producing amazing perfumes.
How then should we handle the trials that are meant to prune and refine us?
1 Thess, 5:16-18: “Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, in everything give thanks; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.”
James 1:2-3: “My brethren, count it all joy when you fall into various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces patience.”
So the polishing, the refining, and the pruning continues beloved. Keep looking up, keep thanking Him.
God the Father, the Vinedresser, is at work as He prunes us for ever greater fruitfulness and irons out every wrinkle from our wedding clothes, preparing us for the Wedding Feast.