The Pruning Process

Friday, October 28

The Pruning Process
By: Pastor Adam Munshaw

 
15 “I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener. 2 He cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit, while every branch that does bear fruit he prunes[a] so that it will be even more fruitful. - John 15:1-2

If you asked me what I knew about gardening a year ago… I would tell you Chris Wagnon’s famous line… “Green side up.” Over the last year, gardening has been a new passion of mine. I often tell people it was my permission to be bad at something new.

What’s interesting about what Jesus says in these verses in John 15 is that God the Father is the gardener & that Jesus is the vine. We as God’s people are the branches.

I’m reminded of the tomato plants in our raised beds. We shoved 24 caged tomato plants in a 4-foot by 8-foot bed. In order to reach a lot of the tomatoes on the inside, you have to cut back the greens that aren’t producing to give space for what is. 

This is what God does in us. Not everything in us is intended to continue to grow though. Sometimes God has to prune parts of our lives that aren’t bearing fruit to give space to the new things that God wants to grow in us.

One day I was reading these verses in John 15 while sitting in the garden with Theo & talking about the growing places in our lives. The Spirit kept me focused on that second part of verse 2… “while every branch that does bear fruit he prunes…” 
 
This is the season that I’m in. There are areas of life that God is inviting me into deeper wisdom, deeper community, & deeper accountability - but why? - SO THAT “it will be even more fruitful.”

The pruning process is uncomfortable. We have to be willing to let go of what is not good for us, not producing the fruit of the Spirit in us, in order that we might give space for God to reach more people, to teach us how to love more, and to bear even more fruit in our lives.