A Thought a Day...
Thursday, February 17, 2005
"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 15:2
I've been thinking about this verse a lot recently. In my yard we have a tree that has overgrown so much that it is becoming a problem. It is encroaching on the power lines in front of the house; it is dropping branches on the roof; the acorns and leaves are covering the ground so heavily that it is killing what grass can grow because there is so much shade. I'm going to have to cut it back and thin it out. My problem is to know how and which limbs to cut. I'm going to have to hire a tree surgeon to do it properly.
Christ is saying that we are the branches and He is the vine. That God will cut away branches that do not bear fruit and will prune the branches that do. Why is that important? I did some work for a citrus fruit grove in Florida one time. There I learned about sucker branches. These are branches that don't have any fruit on them. What these branches do is to draw nutrients from the tree for their own survival... Nutrients that could be used to develop larger and sweeter fruit. So the grove owner would go through and trim those branches from the tree so that more sap reaches the fruit. But he didn't stop there... Every fall he would cut back the tip of the branches that did bear fruit. Then in the spring the new growth would take place leaving the tree healthier. The cool thing about this pruning process was that many of the cuttings were used to create new trees.
So, I wonder why does God cut me back? Is it because I'm not bearing fruit? Or, is it that he is going to transplant parts of my efforts to bear fruit somewhere else?
Father, this morning I'm affected deeply by my need to bear fruit. How I need to carry out you command to make disciples, more disciples and better disciples. My prayer is that if I must be pruned, that it is so that I can bear more and sweeter fruit. Keep me close to the trunk... I don't want to be cut away from you and cast on that pile of branches at the curb. Show me how I can bear more fruit.
