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Sharing God’s Word:
Fruit is a delicious and important part of our diet, but any one who works with an orchard or vineyard can tell
you that apples, pears, or a bunch of grapes you may be enjoying right now didn’t just happen. It was
carefully brought along by the grower, by taking proper care of the parent tree or vine.
Let's focus on the grape vine. Despite the abuse of its fruit, the grape vine has been a blessing to man for
thousands of years, and for the same amount of time man has treated the vine harshly. And therein lies a very
significant paradox, which our Lord used in His lesson on the vine and the branches, found in John 15:1-8:
“Every branch in Me that bears not fruit He taketh away: and every branch that bears fruit, He purges it, that
it may bring forth more fruit” (John 15:2).
God “purges” the good branches. The word means “to cleanse,” but it is here used to mean
pruning-cleansing the braneh of useless shoots which would keep the vine from bearing well.
If we see how this works in the vineyard, we may gain appreciation for how it works in God's vineyard-even
though we are the branches being purged!
When the pruner comes, he will select perhaps two of the strongest branches: these he will treat
“unmercifully,” by leaving only a few fruiting spurs, and only a few buds on these.
One might think that such harsh treatment would deeply curtail the harvest, or ruin it altogether. But the vine
is amazingly tolerant, When it is left with little to work with, it will pour all its energy into them-and by
harvest time, large clusters of delicious fruit will be ready for marketing. Note that this is not the grape vine's
own choice, Wild grapes grow on untidy, sprawling vines, in sharp contrast to the disciplined vines trained
by man. And while the untamed vines may out-produce their domesticated cousins, the fruit will generally
be small and sour, and will be in stringy, unattractive clusters.
It makes little difference to the grape vine whether its fruit is delicious or bitter. The birds and small animals
which will distribute its seeds as they eat the fruit are not fussy about such things. The vine's objective is
reproduction, and this goal would be met either way. We may also note at this point that “natural” vines do
not exhibit the surprising rush of energy which pruned vines pour into their remaining branches. If they did,
the vines might well have overwhelmed every woodland in the world.
Nature does not prune, nor does it cultivate. Therefore there would be no pressure for so-called “natural
selection” to build this quality into the vine. This ability was built into the grape vine not by evolution, but
by God, who gave it as one of countless good gifts to man. In His wisdom, He made the vine able to live wild
and free, but also capable of being tamed by man for his service.
And therein lies a lesson-one which our Lord Jesus Christ taught when He said: “I am the true vine, and My
Father is the Husbandman. Every branch in Me that bears not fruit He taketh away: and every branch that
bears fruit, He purges it, that it may bring forth more fruit”(John 15:1-2).
Our Lord indicated that just as grape vines produce better fruit when they are pruned, so do God’s called need
to be trained and disciplined, just as do grape vines through pruning ! We know that the equivalent
disciplining is never comforting.
What did Jesus have in mind when He spoke of pruning? Surely He meant the circumstances of life which
God uses to cut away the bad wood of pride and greed, of lust and worldly ambition. Pruning may include
anything at all through which God speaks to us from the sneer of an unbeliever to the death of a loved one.
Whatever the hurt may be, the important thing to remember is that God allowed it-and therefore there is
something in this circumstance meant to bring about growth and fruitfulness in our lives. What else can
Romans 8:28 mean when it. tells us: “And we know that all things work together for good to them that love
God, to them who are the called according to His purpose”?
A believer in Christ should never become discouraged when God's pruning shears do their work, for as the
Bible says again: “No chastening for the present seems to be joyous, but grievous: never the less, afterward
it yields the peaceable fruit of righteousness unto them which are exercised thereby” (Heb. 12:110).
We are being pruned in order to make us more fruitful in the future! ☜
THOUGHT FOR THE DAY
Should Job have Sued God? Oftentimes it is little children who come up with profound thoughts that few
adults would dare express. Here is one such example.
The lawyer made it a habit to put his little girl to bed at night by reading her a Bible story. This particular
night he read to her the story of Job.
As she learned about the man who lost his wife, cattle, and children, whose body was racked with sores and
whose friends forsook him, she was finally compelled to ask: “Daddy why didn’t Job sue God?”
We can curse God, blame God, abandon God, and yes, even try to sue God-but a true Christian believer clings
to God in time of trouble; he doesn’t forsake God ! ☜