Thurs Inspiration

Morning Inspiration with Pastor Merritt

The second way the gardener maximizes the fruit of the branch is by pruning.

“And every branch that does bear fruit he prunes, that it may bear more fruit.” (John 15:2)

Sometimes branches have growing into them what are called “sucker-shoots.” These are tiny little shoots that appear exactly where the vine and the branch intersect and they begin to suck the sap from the vine that ought to be going to the branch away from the branch. If sucker-shoots are not pruned and cut away the branch becomes malnourished and it won’t bear fruit, so the gardener will take sheers or scissors and very gently, but firming cut away anything that will impede the ability of that branch to do what it was designed to do which is to bear fruit.

Sometimes God takes the sheers of circumstances, tough-times, heartache, difficulty, the loss of a job, or a physical aliment and though we don’t realize it He is trying to cut away those sucker-shoots from our lives that are sucking the sap out of the vine keeping us from bearing fruit. If you will listen you will hear those sheers clipping away when you are lying flat on a sick bed or you just got fired from a job or your spouse has walked out on you or a rebellious child has left home. Too often, we get bitter and angry, because we fail to realize that what God is doing is cutting away our arrogance and our pride and our tendency to depend on everything except Him and to be who we ought to be and do what we ought to do.

Sometimes He uses the scissors of scripture. Listen to verse 3.

“Already you are clean because of the word that I have spoken to you.” (John 15:3)

The word for “clean” in verse 3 is the same word for “prune” in verse 2. You read your Bible and you get convicted of something you have been doing that you need to stop or you get challenged with things that you haven’t been doing that you need to start. God is simply cutting away the bad so it doesn’t get in the way of the good and even goes deeper and cuts out the good so it doesn’t get in the way of the best.

I’ll tell you something that you already know. Pruning is painful. Pruning hurts. Pruning cuts. Remember this – whenever the gardener is pruning the branch it is because he considers the branch important and he wants to maximize the fruitfulness of that branch. We get the idea sometimes that troubles and trials and heartaches and difficulties are signs that God doesn’t care when in reality they are signs that God does care.

God is the Master Gardener. He loves you so much that He will never allow anything to come into your life that He hasn’t designed to be used as a means of making you the most fruitful you can be and giving you the opportunity to live the most impactful life that you can. Remember this – the hand of the gardener is never closer to the branch than when he is pruning the vine. Do you want to be everything you want to be? Do you want to do everything you want to do? Do you want to come to the end of your life minimizing your regrets and maximizing your rejoicing? Then, you concentrate on Christ exclusively and your connection to Him.