“He cuts 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 15:2
Jesus is stating that He is the vine and God the Father is the gardener. In this verse He is talking about branches that produce and do not produce fruit and what happens to each. A few verses later Jesus points out that all believers are the branches in Him.
People who are good at gardening fruit trees know that not every fruit tree will produce fruit or will continue to produce fruit. When they get a tree that is not producing it is cut down to make room for a new one that will produce. There is no room or purpose for a fruit tree that is not producing fruit. It is worthless.
The trees that are producing are kept, but need to be touched up on occasion. Not every branch on a producing tree will produce good fruit. Parts of those branches tend to die off and need to be removed. This is the pruning part.
If pruning is done correctly on a fruit tree, a good producing tree will begin to produce even more fruit. If one does not prune, the production levels will actually get lower.
Since all believers are branches in Jesus, and are producing some fruit, Jesus is working to get them to produce even more. You are one of those branches.
The pruning that Jesus may be doing is cutting out things in your life that get in the way of producing good fruit for God. These could be physical things, attitudes, other people, and sins.
Being pruned may not always be pleasant at the time. Any time you get cut it will hurt some. Pruning is just cutting off dead parts of a plant.
As you are going through tough times, realize it could be Jesus trying to prune you to be even better. Do not be angry about the pruning process. Do not feel worthless because of the pruning. It is just God’s way to make you an even better producer.
Trust the vine, Jesus, and the gardener, God, in that they know what they are doing. They are the Master Gardeners.
I pray today that God will prune you to be even better than before; that you will accept the pruning in your life; that you will be willing to produce greater fruit each day; and that Jesus will build His kingdom through you.
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