The Vine and the Branches

“He cuts off every branch of mine that doesn’t produce fruit, and he prunes the branches that do produce fruit so they will produce even more.”
John 15:2

Today, I had the privilege of talking to a good friend of mine that I don’t get to see too often. We started talking about what the Lord has been putting on his heart lately, and he brought the whole picture of the vine and branches. To be perfectly honest, since being at the Honor Academy, I’ve heard that portion of scripture so much and have never really understood it. It’s always just gone through one ear and out the other. Anyways, this is what he said,

“Yeah, like the vine and branches is such a powerful picture, because without the vine the branches will die. Not just not do well, but straight up die.” 

He went on to explain it a bit more, but I think that that statement is what’s most put it in perspective for me. 

Anyways, continuing on.. We talked about it a bit more, and then he just said where it was all found- in John 15. Of course I was interested in what my bible had to say, so I read it. But as soon as I started reading it, I got stuck on the second verse- which I’ve given to you up at the beginning of this post. I kept reading the chapter, but I couldn’t get past what that verse said about pruning the branches that produce fruit so that they’ll produce more fruit. 

And I think the reason why I kept thinking about that is maybe because that’s what God is bringing me through. Pruning. But what does that mean? What the heck is pruning? I just looked it up, literally. 

To prune is to: Trim (a tree, shrub, or bush) by cutting away dead or overgrown branches or stems, esp. to increase fruitfulness and growth.

Yep. That’s what it is. Cutting away dead or overgrown branches to increase fruitfulness and growth.

There are things in ourselves that are dead or overgrown, things that keep us stuck so we can’t grow anymore. There are things in ME that are dead and overgrown that I need God to cut away. I would imagine that if I were a tree, the whole pruning thing would hurt a lot- you know.. having several parts of you cut off. It must not be so different for us as God’s pruning us. As he’s cutting away those things, it hurts.. like crazy.

God’s been cutting things off of me from my past, from my present, my way of thinking, from my personality and who I think I am. He knows the pain that it’s been bringing. He’s not oblivious. But he’s not doing it for the purpose of hurting me. He’s doing it so that I can grow. So that I can leave certain things behind as I learn from them and let them go. He’s doing it so that I can live life without anything holding me back because Jesus came to give us life, and life abundantly. That’s what he said, and that’s what I believe.

Pruning is a part of life, and although the pain sucks it’s for our own good. 

I guess it’s a perspective I’ve been needing a while, but I think it’s come at the perfect time.