Lessons from the Heart
Is it time to prune?
By Paul Marcellino

Marcellino

In addition to being a pastor, I serve as an extension educator for Carroll County and spend a lot of time in training to be more effective. Recently, along with fellow educators, I spent some time walking the Purdue campus learning about plant diseases, tree planting, and pruning. The horticulture specialist felt it was an even trade if we would do some pruning for them around the Daniels Turf Center for the knowledge we gained. In the hot sun, 20 educators equipped with shears, loppers, and saws did some aggressive pruning.

This event reminded me of the verses in John 15 in which Jesus teaches about the vine and the branches. In verses 1-2 it states, "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." Jesus is telling us two things in these verses. First, he tells us it is vital to stay connected to Him, the true vine, in order to produce fruit. Any good gardener knows that a branch apart from the life-giving vine not only cannot bear any type of fruit, but its survival is in jeopardy. Jesus made it a point to let us know that separation from Him and his body, the church, puts a believer in dire and often deadly circumstances.

Secondly, Jesus talks about a type of pruning that will increase our fruit. Tuesday, we cut away weak branches and shaped the trees to be more productive.

There are times in our lives when we will receive disciplining or challenges that will have a pruning effect on us. Sometimes the Father has to prune away parts of our lives that are not like Jesus. He wants to form and shape us in His Son's image. He wants to shear away bad attitudes, pride, and self-reliance. His hope is that we will abide in him and, through his strength, produce much fruit. As we accept this painful pruning, we become more reliant on God and, as a result, we become more productive for Him.

Unfortunately, a few branches were dead in the trees that we pruned. Cutting the dead wood out of those trees did give me a sense of loss. This loss we see many times in our society today. So many people live fruitless lives unattached to the vital love of Christ. This is why we as the branches need to bear fruit so others will want to be part of the Living Vine and not become discarded as dead wood.

The next time you pick up your pruning shears, think of the gardener and the vine and realize that pruning may be difficult, but the resulting fruit beautiful.

Paul Marcellino is pastor at Camden First Baptist Church.