“I am the true vine, and My Father is the vinedresser. Every branch in Me that does not bear fruit, He takes away; and every branch that bears fruit, He prunes it so that it may bear more fruit.” ~John 15:1-2
I like to work through sections of the Bible on this blog. It gives me focus and a structure that I cannot come up with myself. When I chose to write through this section of John’s gospel, I knew it would be a challenge to stick to only five weeks. Every verse is so packed with life that it’s hard to choose just a few statements to write about! This fall we’re going to study Hebrews, so that’s what will be here on the blog, so I’m going to stick with it and limit myself to five weeks in John.
There are seven “I am” statements in the John’s Gospel. This is one of them. Jesus is the True Vine. The Father is the vinedresser (the one in charge). We are the branches and our lives are the fruit.
Given those roles, this is a fairly simple parable: God takes away the branches that aren’t producing fruit, and He prunes those that are. And yet, when we take our eyes off the the text and see this in our reality, it’s a scary thought.
I’ve heard this preached as a means to scare us into Christian disciplines like quiet times and daily prayer. But God doesn’t mean for this life to be a checklist. He wants to give us *life*. God will prune away anything that doesn’t lead to life in Him.
What are those things? Obviously sin issues will be pruned away, but what about good things that distract us from better things?
I have a habit of taking on too much. I think I can manage my schedule; I write out my schedule and I think it makes sense. And then I actually live it and realize I’m in over my head. Like the time when we were church planting and I spent a year as the children’s director, worship team guitarist, prayer team leader, women’s director and small group leader, homeschool mom, all along with participating in MOPS, taking my boys to music class, and multiple speech therapy appointments each week. Every minute of my day was scheduled, but since nothing overlapped, I thought I was fine. It was all GOOD stuff. But too much good can distract from what’s best.
I had become like Martha in the Mary/Martha story. Remember that one? Luke 10:38-42 tells the story of a couple of sisters whom Jesus visited. Martha busied herself with being the hostess, but Mary stopped what she was doing to worship at Jesus’ feet. She was commended for doing the better thing.
When we are too busy, even with good things, we become like Martha. Those are the things Jesus is going to prune away. He knows you may be capable of doing a lot, and He knows you may be talented at several different things, but He also knows the task for which He specifically made you.
Ephesians 2:10 says that He created the good things we’re supposed to walk in. Don’t walk in someone else’s good things! God wants us to slow down and focus on Him. You weren’t made to do it all. And if you try, you’ll probably face some divine pruning.