Word of the Week - Pruning (pathway to growth and maturity)
“I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener. 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: 1
How do we live fruitful lives from a Kingdom perspective? We simply abide/remain connected to the vine of Christ. The fruit is the bi-product of our intimate relationship with Christ. We don’t make the fruit God produces it through us as we remain in Him. I believe the most important thing as a follower of Christ is pursuing an abiding relationship with Jesus and making that the priority of our lives each and every day. Jesus promises us that “If we abide in Him, He will abide in us and we will bare much fruit”. John 15:5 Part of the abiding life is being willing to be pruned so we can even be more productive and fruitful.
Pruning is Part of the Process of Growth and Maturity – If we truly desire to be all God has called us to be then we must embrace the principle of cutting and pruning. “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.” This is not necessarily a fun process and surely not a refrigerator scripture for most of us but it is part of the refining process of our walk of faith and maturity in Christ. Pruning is how God answers our prayers when we pray for God’s abundant blessings and that He will make us more like Jesus. When we are praying that our lives will please Him more and have a greater impact for eternity. In desiring to grow and go deeper in the things of God, if we choose and allow Him, God our gardener cuts and prunes to remove things that are dead and not productive from our lives to make room for sunlight and nutrience to get to all fruit-bearing branches; to increase the quality and quantity of the fruit; and to encourage new fruit to develop. This is the only path to abundance, we must all be cut and pruned. He must first cut away parts of our lives that drain precious time and energy from what is truly important. To allow the sunlight and nutriance to flow to the most fruitful areas of our lives so we can live in our highest and best use. Live to our full potential in Christ. His plan for pruning is not random – He works in each of our lives uniquely to find what needs to but pruned so that we might bear our best fruit. If we understand that this is part of the process then we can “Count it pure joy” as outlined in James 1:2-4 “whenever you face trials of many kinds (cutting/pruning), because you know the testing of your faith produces perseverance. Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.”
Our Response – If we truly desire to live to our full potential in Christ and maximize Kingdom fruit while on earth, we should acknowledge to God our Father that we are grateful He loves us so much that He is willing to do the hard work of pruning our lives. If we have resented the pain of God’s discipline and/or pruning in our lives, we should acknowledge this and let God know we appreciate His deep love for us. The truth is that our heavenly Father loves us so much that He won’t stop tending our lives as long as we stay connected to His vine. This is simply the process of spiritual maturity and “Breaking through to Abundance”. So let’s embrace our Abba Father and all He has for us because He truly is a good, good Father that knows what is best and His plan for our lives is much greater than ours. “Let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfector of our faith. For the joy set before Him He endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.”. Hebrews 12:1-2
Practical Application: By the way, this principle is also true in most areas of life. If we want to grow and mature in our professional journey, we must be pruned of certain things such as old ways/habits and mindsets. Things that worked in a prior role may be holding us and our team back toward moving forward in our journey of growth. Certain organizational structures that got us to where we are will no longer facilitate organizational growth and maturity and must be changed/pruned. This is typically a painful process. We have heard it before, no pain no gain. So we must recognize this reality and embrace the short term pain so we can realize the longer term gain, so we can realize our potential and become mature and complete in every area of our lives.
The only true evidence of God working in our lives is the spiritual fruit that is being produced through our lives. “By their fruit you will recognize them”. Matthew 7:16
Have a great week!!!!!
-Duane