5“I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener. 2He 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. 3You are already clean because of the word I have spoken to you. 4Remain 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. 5“I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing. 6If you do not remain in me, you are like a branch that is thrown away and withers; such branches are picked up, thrown into the fire and burned. 7If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you. 8This is to my Father’s glory, that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be my disciples.
In our Scripture passage, Jesus presents God as a gardener. John 15: 1 “I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener.”
As a gardener, God’s primary task is to make sure that each plant in the garden is specially cared for to ensure health and fruitfulness.
A very necessary part of this caring process is the act of pruning. The gardener carefully and patiently examines the plant, and using the right instrument, cuts certain parts of the plant to facilitate or accelerate the plant’s steady and vibrant growth.
In Greek, to prune means to purge. It also means to clean. Spiritually speaking, God removes every sin that impairs us to bear fruit at maximum level.
Charles Spurgeon
As Spurgeon suggests, divine pruning, no matter how helpful and no matter how necessary its intentions, is certainly unpleasant and at times, even excruciatingly painful. As we always say, the truth hurts.
In this case, the more we uphold the standards of God revealed in His Word of God, the more we look intently into the truth of God, the more our darkened and hardened hearts are exposed for what they really are.
And so when the sharp pruning instrument of God cuts through our very core, we cannot help but scream, kick back, and shout in pain.
I remember my son, Khaki’s first trip to the emergency room. After an accidental fall, he sustained a cut right about his right eyebrow that required several stitches. While his wound was being attended to by the resident doctors, I recall how he desperately cried out, “Mama stop…. Mama.. . please stop…” It was truly heartbreaking. He begged and pleaded for the whole procedure to be stopped. It seemed to be the most convenient thing to do, but it was not. Stopping the entire procedure would compromise him even more, and serious infection could eventually take his life.
Such is the dilemma of one who is being divinely pruned by God. The sharp and immediate pain brought by the pruning can be so powerful that it clouds over the most beautiful, most pure, and the most noble intentions of God.
This is why, we need to learn to trust God and His Word fully when we are in the season of pruning.
As Jesus admonishes, “4Remain 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.”
Going back to my son’s emergency room experience, I still recall that as he screamed his heart out in pain, I leaned my body closer to him, brought my face nearer to his , gripped his hand really tight, and Greg and I never left him during the entire procedure.
That’s how I visualize the Lord’s admonition when he said, “Remain in me.” It’s not really so much of us clinging to God, but it’s really more about the Lord’s very presence leaning closer to us, gripping us so tightly and securely in the seasons of our pruning.
It is also about realizing that it is because of the Lord’s grip on us that we, too, can grip him back in the spirit of genuine and absolute dependence.
In his book Strengthening Your Grip
I could only imagine how my frightened little boy struggled to hold on to Greg and I as he endured the minor surgical procedure. But despite the pain , he had to trust us. He had to rely on us. He had to depend on us in that moment. He had to simply accept in his young heart that although he did not fully understand everything what was going on — and even when the pain was becoming unbearable — he was not alone. We were with him, and that was the most important thing.
Indeed, friends, this is our blessed assurance: that in the midst of so much that is happening in the world and in our lives that we do not understand, we are serving a God of purpose, a God who knows exactly what needs to be done, when it must be done and how; a God whom we can trust with all our hearts; and a God who can subject us to the greatest pain but still with the most glorious and most awesome purpose in mind.
What about us? What specific areas in our lives do we need the purging and cleansing presence of the Lord? What are the sins that must be cut off? Are we harboring ill feelings in our hearts towards some people in our lives? Are there destructive habits and lifestyles that simply have to stop? Are we hiding certain sins in our lives, thinking that no one will know anyway? Are we struggling with personal issues we are trying so hard to fix , but is now time to let go, and let God?
Divine pruning can be the most frightening thing to do but it is a mark of our identity as God’s children. As stated in Hebrews 12: 6, “.. the Lord disciplines and purges those He loves, and He punishes everyone He accepts as a son.”
Today, friends, as we all prepare our hearts to gather once more around the table of the Lord, let us continue to celebrate the love and presence of Christ that sustains us in the seasons of divine pruning in our lives.
Today, what is left of that emergency room experience in a tiny scar Khaki will have to carry with him for the rest of his life, a scar that would remind him, that at one point, he fell, and he bled, and he cried so hard. But the same scar would also remind him of how brave he was, how truly loved he was, and how Mama and Dada stood by him every step of the way.
Do you feel that you are being divinely pruned? Trust God more and more. Take heart and stand strong — these seasons of pain will not be forever.
Soon, you will see the fruits of your perseverance, and you will give all the glory and honor to Christ alone.
