John 15:2(NIV), “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.”
Only a good gardener will know when it’s right to prune, and how best to do it. No one likes to be pruned, because at the time, it can be painful, but the end result brings even more fruitfulness.
I love the story of the great artist Michelangelo, who would go down to the quarry and find large lumps of stone that nobody else wanted, and carve something of beauty, a masterpiece, out from each of them. When he was asked how he managed to make beautiful statues of splendour he replied, “They were always there I just knocked the rough edges away.”
My friend, when in the hands of the ‘Great Sculptor’, our ’heavenly gardener’, God looks at us, and sees in us something of beauty; of such splendour, a trophy of grace, a priceless masterpiece. However if we don’t let him prune us, we will never mature into the fruitful vine that God sees that we can be.
Let us consider our text today, and let Jesus prune us, so that we will be even more fruitful for His kingdom.
John 15:2 (NIV,) “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.”
God bless you my friend, Matthew.
