Pruning? Again?

My grandma used to own a cherry orchard. The sour cherry trees were in the field behind her house, but the sweet cherries were right up next to the house within easy access. I remember sitting in the trees filling myself full of that dark, sweet fruit when it first became ripe in the early summer. I loved cherry everything and you could tell by the deep red stains on my shirts!

Every spring the workers would prune the branches and leave mounds of limbs to cover the ground beneath each tree. It seemed like such a waste but the pruning actually helped the tree to bear more fruit by concentrating the energy from the tree trunk to fewer limbs and producing bigger cherries.

Scripture tells us that pruning needs to happen in our lives, too. In John 15 Jesus speaks of taking away the dead branches that do not bear fruit and pruning the good ones so they will bear more. That sounds just like my grandma’s orchard! Here in these verses Jesus is speaking about our lives as believers. Are we producing the optimal fruit for Christ or are we allowing parts of our lives to be lacking in fervor for Him?

Let me ask you this question: If you could take away three things from your responsibility list right now—any three things—would they be truly missed or are they really just making your life too busy to spend time with Jesus? Being busy is a real catch phrase today. It’s used as an excuse for everything from not attending church to not helping out in your community. Jesus would call some of your busyness dead branches. Take a moment to think about that and I’m sure you’ll see what He means.

Don’t make being busy an excuse for not being in the Word of God either. Reading it, thinking about it, applying His Word to your life are the most important things you can do every single day. Don’t make it just another thing to check off your list of things to do today. Being with God should never come last or take second place in your life. It should always be first on your list!

So if God asks you to take away the dead branches and prune the ones that bear fruit, let Him do His perfect work in you. It can only lead to a vibrant, alive believer who bears MUCH fruit!