The Kind 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." -John 15:2

I have read this verse many times. I always thought the branch that did not bear fruit represented our sin. He would cut out the sin of our lives, and while it may represent that, I looked at it with a new perspective. Not that either perspective is better than the other. I realized that the pruning process includes God removing the things in our lives that are holding us back from being all He created us to be, including, but not limited to sin. Pruning is uncomfortable and difficult, especially when He removes things we think we need to live. But it is so necessary. If He was not kind enough to prune us, we would die, wrapped up in things that are poisoning us and stunting our growth. If you don't remove the unfruitful or dead things from a plant, that plant cannot grow very much, because what's dead is killing it. This is why we need Him to come in and prune us. Just like the plant, if the things that are holding us back, whether it be a friendship, relationship, job, etc. If He let those things hold us back, we would never grow. The problem is us. We struggle with change. We struggle letting go. We struggle giving it all to God, knowing it is already His, and letting His will be done. When He prunes, we try to hold on to the things holding us back. But what if He knows what He's doing? I know it might be painful, uncomfortable, and scary to allow Him in and remove parts of your life, close chapters of the book, lock closed doors, but pain comes before the growth. We don't realize how held back we are until He removes those things and makes room for new. We need to let Him in, let Him prune, and let go of the things He's removing. He knows your potential. He knows who He created His creation to be. He knows when you need that person or that job out of your life, because it is hindering you. The devil would love to make us believe that God is mean or bad for removing those things. The devil would love to make us think that we are ok to be a half dead and half alive plant. But know, that a half alive plant, is also half dead, which means it is only producing half of its potential. If the devil can make us satisfied with half potential, he will make us satisfied with no potential. If he can make us satisfied being partially fruitful, he will make us satisfied being unfruitful. The devil will eventually convince us that being a dead plant is better than being pruned and we begin to shrivel and die, this is his greatest goal. That we would be so against being uncomfortable that we would keep what's killing us in order to stay comfortable and keep things easy.

"The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full."-John 10:10

As it is written here, the devil wants nothing more than to kill Him in us. He does this by making us comfortable where we are, not wanting to give up what's killing us, and eventually being left with dead leaves, unnourished roots, and an ultimately dead plant that is unfruitful. If he can make us comfortable with being unfruitful, he has won. We need to trust that God's plan and pruning is best, even when our feelings try to convince us otherwise. What we feel does not affect the truth. Again, pruning is uncomfortable and difficult, especially when He removes things that we never thought were holding us back. But we need it, otherwise, we stand no chance against the serpents tongue and he will surely kill us. Making us believe that that sin we cannot let go of, that person is necessary, that job is everything. This is why we cannot define ourselves by things of this world, the devil will surely use them to suffocate us and we will become an unfruitful plant When we begin to stray from our Vine, we begin to wither. So in order to be fruitful, we must remain in our Vine, and accept what He deems to be in need of pruning and let it go into His Hands. We must define ourselves by our Gardener, who knows His plants well, better than themselves. Our Kind Gardener. The One who prunes, even though He knows it hurts for the moment. He also knows it is needed for the long run. It is needed for us to survive. It is needed for us to grow and become more and more fruitful.