Beauty From Pruning

[hldude33]

“Beauty From Pruning”
By Zach Wood
John 15:1-2

This passage was part of the main text I used for Sunday’s sermon. Jesus is very clear in telling us that if we are not connected to Him, we are not growing and receive no nourishment. This is so clear and we need to take notice of this in our lives. We all desire to grow, but when the pruning process takes place, we’d rather skip the pain and long for growth the easy way. But, that is kind of contradictory. How can we possibly expect to grow in our lives and not be pruned?

Through the growing process, we live life and learn and make mistakes. This is a part of our journey. Mistakes are going to happen and we will fall down, but if we hang onto Jesus Christ and continue to stay connected to Him, He will prune us and help us grow more into the person He desires us to become.

There’s a book Max Lucado wrote many years ago that this passage brings to mind. The book is “Just Like Jesus”. The subtitle of this book reads “God loves you the way you are, but he refuses to leave you that way. He wants you to be just like Jesus.” That hits the nail on the head!

God desires so much for our lives and it saddens Him when we don’t desire to grow. If we want to grow in our faith and be strengthened, He must prune us so that we can bear more fruit. Without this pruning and discipline, there will be no growth. It’s painful, but produces not only fruit, but endurance.

My prayer is that every one of us will allow Him to prune our lives so that we can bear more fruit.

 

[FHII]

As long as it isn't taken ONLY in the natural sense (and by that I mean, "as long as you don't claim the outward man is the sole way God wants us to be pruned), I agree. I do believe God wants us to prosper in that natural, but I believe he is more concerned with us prospering spiritually. We should focus on that and let the spritual pruning, prospering and bearing spiritual fruit spill over into our natural lives.

My goodness! That may take some explaining... I know... But I do like that you seem to be excited about what you learned and/or preached (are you a preacher) recently and relate it to us. Thanks for that...

 

[KingJ]

“Beauty From Pruning”
By Zach Wood
John 15:1-2

This passage was part of the main text I used for Sunday’s sermon. Jesus is very clear in telling us that if we are not connected to Him, we are not growing and receive no nourishment.

Correct. A wondering sheep away from the flock goes hungry / eats toxic grass. A coal out of the fire dies. It remains a coal but a useless one.

 

[Angelina]

I'm all for pruning. Sometimes we can grab a hold of something that is truly awesome - a revelation from God but rather than learning from it and holding it loosely ... we tend to turn it into a methodology or worse still...build a campsite around it. I like to ask God every once in awhile to remove everything that I think I know and to teach me again... :)

Shalom!!!