The winegrower’s work

I am the true vine, and My Father is the vinedresser. Every branch that does not bear fruit in me, he removes, and every branch that bears fruit, he prunes, so that it bears more fruit. (John 15:1-2).

Parents want their children to live productive lives. The same does our Father who is in heaven. Once we become his children, he works to fulfill his will in our lives.

When the Vinedresser notices that a branch does not bear fruit, he gets down to work to remedy it. Although many translations say take away in verse two of John 15, a clearer translation of the Greek word aired would be take or lift. This very word airo- it is used in Matthew 14:20, John 4:11, John 5:8, and John 11:41 where it is translated take, carry, take, and lift.

New branches have a natural tendency to descend and grow along the ground, but they do not bear fruit there. The leaves are covered with dust. When it rains, they get dirty and moldy. The branch becomes diseased and useless. The vinedresser goes through the vineyard with a bucket of water looking for those branches. After he picks them up, washes them and wraps them around a trellis, the branches begin to thrive.

That is the way of our Father. In loving kindness, He lifts us up from the dirt of living too close to the ground.

Mature pruning is expressed in the Bible as the test of your faith (James 1:3-4 and 1 Peter 1:6-9).

Karen Cutler, author of The New England Gardener’s Book of Lists, gives below a pruning guide. She states that the overall goal of pruning is to keep the vines healthy, vigorous, and productive. My comments are in parentheses.

• Remove dead, damaged, diseased, or unproductive stems. [God will gently remove anything in our lives that is not our best. It may be a diseased way of thinking (harboring bitterness, etc.) or something we carried over from our life before Christ which is damaging our witness, or an unproductive habit. Is there anything you have been holding onto that you suspect God is trying to trim away?]
• Remove overly tangled stems. [God will continually remind us that we are in the world, but not of it. Put first the kingdom of God. Are you the same on Monday as you are on Sunday?]
• Remove errant stems, especially those that grow far from the support. [God will always work to bring us back to Himself. In the case of the prodigal son, he needed discipline as a son, but he was still a son and the father was watching continually for his return. If we are truly interested in bearing fruit for God, He may prune us by pulling us back before we go to the “far land.” Christians struggle against good, better and best. Are you achieving God perfect plan for your life or are you just doing good things?]
• Direct your growth. [This may be one of the primary reasons for being pruned: God’s loving hand is directing us to be all He created us to be. Even the most adventurous of us do not invite the pruning of the Vinedresser. Yet pruning is a primary way He expresses His love to us.]

As children of the King, we have our inheritance secure. We will live with Him forever, but He wants us to have something to take with us when we walk through the gates of heaven.

“You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you so that you go and bear fruit, and your fruit remains, so that whatever you ask the Father in my name, he may give it to you. (John 15:16).