The pruning process is never fun!!

I have a bush in front of my house and every year I tell my mom that I want that bush removed.  It’s an attractive bush.  The colors are year round, and it changes throughout the year.  It will go from a vibrant red, to shades of almost purples and then to a deep green.   This bush has been a problem for me for over ten years, but yet it remains.  

I say to myself every year, one of these years, I am going to have that bush removed and then plant flowers in its place, but every year goes by, and still that bush remains.  The reasons I don’t like the bush is it grows so quickly, which means that I have to trim the bush.  I don’t like to do any kind of gardening, so this work goes into the gardening field for me, which already brings a negative.   

This bush also has very sharp bristles on each one of its leaves so no matter what angle I am trimming the bush I am getting pricked the entire time.  Then cleaning up the branches also is painful, because of the bristles and, they always cause a slight allergic reaction in my hands.    

Now, I am sure by this time you are wondering why I am going on and on about this bush, and wishing I would just remove it already.   I promise I am going somewhere here.  The reason why this bush never gets removed is because of its roots.  My mom insists that the roots of this bush have to be deeply embedded into the earth.   She says this would cause quite problem for the front of my home, since the bush is right in front of my concrete steps.  

Every day I look at this bush I scowl and wish it was gone.  This is also how I feel every time God decides to trim away at my flesh.  Ahhh now we see the coloration! 

In John 15 Jesus says I AM the True Vine, and My Father is the Vine-dresser.  (2) Any branch in Me that does not bear fruit (that stops bearing) He cuts away (trims off, takes away); and He cleanses and repeatedly prunes every branch that continues to bear fruit, to make it bear more and richer and more excellent fruit.  

 Jesus says that He is the Vine and that God is the Vine-dresser.    Jesus is what the fruit is connected to but God is the one who designs and beautifies the fruit.   Jesus then goes on to say that any branch in Me, or us as believers in Jesus, that does not bear fruit, that stops believing in Jesus, obeying him and his instructions, and lives a fleshly life, they will be cut away.    

I don’t think this is saying that Jesus is going to walk away from them and shun them, but I do think he will allow them to live their lives and suffer the consequences of their decisions.  I don’t think that Jesus will stop loving them, but he will allow them to see the destruction that is in front of them.   If Jesus would continue to shield, or protect the person who has chosen to live by their fleshly desires instead of allowing them to see the wrath of their decisions, He isn’t helping them.   

This is like the alcoholic who decides to change his life but still allows himself to live the same life that he did before he stopped drinking.  His decision to stop drinking was a smart decision but his decision to not change his lifestyle will lead him right back to drinking.  He hasn’t made any steps to change what helped create the problem.  If Jesus would not allow us to experience the wrath of our bad decisions, we would believe we could live the way we wanted and never experience any ramifications for our poor behavior.   

Jesus has to allow the backslider to be exactly what they are, and feel the effects of what they choose.  As soon as this person repents and comes back to Jesus, he will be forgiven and Jesus will open his arms and welcome them back lovingly, and the process of healing will start again.   

We have all experienced doing life our way and the ramifications of our poor decisions.  We have all seen that life away from God and his guidance is going to lead us into dark places, where we are not able to flourish.  

If I would decide to not trim back my bush every season, this bush would take over the front of my house.  I would have problems walking up my steps to get into my home.  I would have problems getting out of my car, to even try to get to the steps.  Every time I would brush up against it I would be pricked by one of the bushes sharp edges.  This wouldn’t be an enjoyable experience every day and one that would grow old very quickly.  It would cause me to make a decision and then act upon it.   

Jesus goes on to say that He cleanses and repeatedly prunes every branch that continues to bear fruit, to make it bear more and richer and more excellent fruit.   When you stay connected and plugged into Jesus and obey His teachings, you are going to produce good fruit.  You will be able to be impactful in the world, with the word of Jesus and cause other people to want what you have.  You are then able to bear good fruit into the kingdom of God.  

This sounds great, right?  It is great in theory, but don’t forget that to keep producing good fruit, stronger fruit, richer, more excellent fruit, you have to be pruned and trimmed.   

When I trim back my bush, the colors are more vibrant, the branches grow stronger and faster.  This happens because I trim the bush.  When God trims you, you grow stronger in your faith and trust of God.  Your fruit will become more of a witness to the people around you, so you can them bring more people into the Kingdom of God.  Your life is more of a testament to the goodness of God, because you are being trimmed and pruned.

Just as trimming and pruning is not fun to do on a plant or tree, it is not fun when it is happening to us.  When God sees that there is something in you, a stronghold, a bad habit or personality trait, that He needs to remove from your life, He will begin to trim it away.   

He will begin to place things in your life to bring out what He is trying to change in you so that

He can begin working on them.   He will allow people to enter your life to be used to help mold you and remove the things that are blocking you from growing in God.   

Whatever He is trimming or taking out of your life, He is doing, not to hurt you, but to make your connection with Him stronger.  He is trying to bond you together by removing the thing that is getting in the way of your connection.  God desires to be connected to you, so if there is something or someone that is getting in the way of what He is trying to do, in and through you He will start to make some changes.  

He might remove the person or thing.  He might start to use the person or thing to change you, which in my experience, this is how He works with me.  God will use something that I desire to remove things in my life that He cannot use to work through me.   He will remove things that will get more attention than He will, and God is a jealous God, so you can’t put anything before your relationship with God, and expect it to stay there.  

What we must remember, just like my bush, the longer the bush is connected to the vine, the stronger the roots will be.  The stronger our roots are in God, the stronger our connection will be to Him.   He will then be able to work through you and establish a better fruit within you, because you are rooted firmly in who He is.  All of this in the end will bring glory to God.   

If you look around you, you will be able to see if you are producing good fruit or not.  You will know by the life you are leading.  You will know by the desires of your heart, and if they match up to the Word of God.   Good fruit is easily detected once we open our eyes to see it.   I also believe that bad fruit is easily detected, as well, but again, we must allow ourselves to see it.  

Jesus tells us that He is the Vine and that God is the Vine-dresser, so as long as you stay connected to the Vine, God will be able to adorn you with richer, more excellent fruit.