Cut It or Prune It

Do ya know this guy; a dirty baseball hat, a baggy, flannel shirt over a T-shirt, a stained pair of jeans and leather boots, with leather gloves, working out in his garden or flower bed. I think we have all seen him.

What is he doing? Using an aerating machine so the lawn gets more oxygen, applying fertilizer for a richer and more abundant growth, trimming wild growths, pruning back branches and stems for fuller growth, carefully opening the soil to place a new plant, a long stemmed watering wand which provides soft and tender water instead of a hard forceful flow from a hose. The gardener has to get down in the dirt, close to where the plant is to examine its health. Are there aphids destroying the leaf/plant, are ants taking over the soil, are slugs coming in the still of the night and eating away all the healthy plant, etc? The good gardener has the best tools with which to work. A hoe to open up the soil and tear away weeds, a multitude of trimming devices( a set of small scissors or an extended ratcheted branch cutter), a shovel to turn the soil over, a rake to clear the area. Do you know this guy, have you seen him as well as I have?

Scripture

John 15:1-2

1I AM the True Vine, and My Father is the Gardener.
2Any branch in Me that does not bear fruit [that stops bearing] He cuts away (trims off, takes away); and He cleanses and repeatedly prunes every branch that continues to bear fruit, to make it bear more and richer and more excellent fruit.

Observation

God is my Gardener.

Application

God is the Gardener of my soul. Think about the gardener you have seen. This is what God is doing me. He is taking his pruning sheers from his work belt, and cutting everything from me that does not bear fruit. He is turning over the soil of my life. The Gardener knows best, He knows how to prune the plant effectively. He examines the plant, knowing exactly where to cut where there is NO fruit growing. As the plant, I may not recognize the area that is damaging the whole or what branch is not producing the best fruit, so the Gardener cuts. I need the cutting. I need the Gardener to look at me and cut the disease from me. What is the disease that needs to be cut off? Is it jealousy of my neighbors boat? Is it fits of rage over not getting a promotion? Is it selfishness about "things" I have? Is it the idolatry of me putting all my time into a hobby and nothing for the Lord? Is it gossipping about those I don't know? Is it the my impure thoughts? But God is there to do more than cut me up, where there is but a stem of me left. He is also going to make me produce lots and lots of fruit because he is going to prune me. The definition of pruning is: to remove the undesirable. Praise the Lord. God my Gardener is going to remove the undesirable things in me. I can only be thankful that God loves me enough to cut and remove things from me. Will it hurt, will it set me back? It might. But my Gardener knows everything about this plant and how to make it strong, and beautiful, and full of fragrance, and reproductive, and full of life. It will be a good day when the Gardener walks towards me with scissors.....I know I am receiving the fullness of the Gardeners Love and Care.

Prayer

Father, Thank you for being my Gardener. You want to cut away the waste in me, and prune back the undesirable so I will be bear more fruit. The fruit I bear is not for MY use, I receive no benefit, but the fruit I produce will benefit your Kingdom, your Way, your Word. Thank you for letting me produce for you, so cut and prune me into what could only be described as "God Shaped". Amen.