Pruning
Another verse in the Bible became clear recently. I was reading John 15:2, where Jesus called himself “the vine,” and the disciples (and us) “the branches.”
“Every branch in me that does not produce fruit he [the Father] removes, and he prunes every branch that produces fruit so that it will produce more fruit.” (CSB translation).
Now, if you have ever pruned anything, you know that this involves cutting off dead branches that might hinder the growth of the plant. I am certainly no expert in that area…far from it…but I have done some pruning that hopefully shaped a plant the way I wanted it to look. Pruning helps the plant grow even more by making sure all nourishment from the soil, water, and sun goes to the living parts. The dead parts must be removed, and occasionally even the living parts need pruning as well in order for growth to continue.
There are times when we wonder why our spiritual life seems dead. We wonder why temptation is harder to fight off. We forget where our trust must be, and, in vain, try to fight our own battles. Our journey seems to have hit a dead end. Perhaps some pruning is needed.
Some years ago, I got really interested in Science Fiction. I read a LOT of novels, short stories, novellas, etc, and loved the movies and tv programs about it. I knew all of the major authors, had my favorites, and even knew who would win the major awards, the Hugo and Nebula. At one time, I had a private library of over 700 volumes.
Then, back in the 90s a crisis arose. I found a book by Philip Yancey, called Disappointment With God. The basic story line was about a brilliant seminary student who wrote a thesis on Job that was so good, publishers wanted him to publish it. Then, this student, who had gone through some major crises of his own, said that he no longer believed a word he had written. He no longer believed God was there, or cared, or mattered.
This book changed me forever. I was reminded that sometimes God answers prayer the way we want, and sometimes he doesn’t. Yancey gave a realistic view of God, and how it is ours to simply trust, no matter what.
I soon began to realize that my spiritual life, while not dead, was not “running any races” very well. As a result of reading the Yancey book, I began to see the gold mine that existed in the world of materials about Christian living.
I never saw anything written in the sky, or had a dream or an angel visitation, or experienced a glowing Bible verse, or whatever, saying that I must stop reading SF. The fact is, I simply lost interest. I was spending so much time on SF that I was pretty much ignoring other things of greater spiritual value. It was not ripped away from me. I just saw something much more important that captured my attention.
On the other hand, pruning may be much more painful than what I just described. It may involve something or someone that you love and cannot seem to live without, but is robbing you of growth in Christ. It may even be an addiction of some kind. This process may indeed hurt, and it may take some time.
However, it is necessary to remove anything from our lives, or allow the Lord to, that is making our spiritual life seem like slogging through wet concrete, instead of running a race. We would not run a race with our street clothes on. We would have a hard time even finishing, let alone winning.
What Christ expects is nothing less than Matthew 6:24-26; we take up our cross and follow him. Is this being ridiculous? It would seem so, until we realize that following him entirely is the way to life…abundant life now, and eternal life when this one is over.
It is ours to believe. It is ours to decide which it will be. Do we continue in our own little world while ignoring Christ’s words completely, or do we allow the potential pain of pruning to change us, “…into the same image [of Christ] from glory to glory?” (CSB) That is what he demands after all. He makes this transformation to take place. We don’t have to do it on our own.
Thanks be to God.
