Week 42: John 15

Does your life need pruning?

The other day I was having to do some work in the woods around our property. It was difficult to do because there were weeds, briars, and fallen tree limbs everywhere. I ended up scratched and bleeding in several places.

The woods around our house needs pruning. It’s simply too messy and cluttered.

However, it’s easy for my life to get as tangled and unkempt as the woods. Instead of focusing on the important things — my relationship with God, my relationship with my brothers and sisters in Christ, my family — I get distracted. Distracted by working too much. Distracted by politics. Distracted by sports.

None of those things are bad in and of themselves. Most of us have to work. All of us should makes our voices heard (in a nice way, not by shouting) when it comes to political matters. And there’s nothing wrong with following your favorite sports teams.

But when we become defined by these things, it’s time to regroup. As John 15:1-4 tells us: “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 so that it will be even more fruitful. 3 You are already clean because of the word I have spoken to you. 4 Remain in me, as I also remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me.”

So let’s prune the things out of our life that impede our spiritual growth. Let’s eliminate the things that keep us from bearing the fruit God wants us to bear.

And let’s focus on the things that produces fruit that Paul describes in Galatians 5: love, joy, peace, long-suffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, and self-control. 

—Dennis Sellers