This morning as I was watering my plants, I noticed something that made take a closer look. I have a couple plants I moved aside because they died. One of them, however, was not dead. On the contrary, it had started sprouting green leaves and even some flower buds amongst the brown, dead leaves. I bent down and looked closely at the plant, wondering how I had missed this seemingly obvious growth. I started pulling away dead leaves, exposing the life that had come back to my plant. As I pruned my plant, I thought about the passage from John 15.
“I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener. 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. You are already clean because of the word I have spoken to you. 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.
Our God, the Gardener, is always in the process of pruning, and we ought to be thankful that he has not simply thrown us away when we are “dead.” Some fruit is easier to see and other times the fruit is covered up, but our Father comes in and plucks away the areas that are not fruit-bearing. These words from John 15:1-4 are Jesus talking to His disciples sharing with them the key to producing fruit: remain in Him. Remain in the word, remain in prayer, remain in relationship with Jesus, and the fruit in our lives will be evident.
Our Father, prune us as is necessary. Teach us to remain in Jesus so that our fruit is evidence of His presence in our lives. We love you, Lord, and we desire to glorify you.
