John 15:1-5 (The Message)
1 "I am the Real Vine and my Father is the Farmer. 2 He cuts off every branch of me that doesn't bear grapes. And every branch that is grape-bearing he prunes back so it will bear even more. 3 You are already pruned back by the message I have spoken. 4 "Live in me. Make your home in me just as I do in you. In the same way that a branch can't bear grapes by itself but only by being joined to the vine, you can't bear fruit unless you are joined with me. 5 "I am the Vine, you are the branches. When you're joined with me and I with you, the relation intimate and organic, the harvest is sure to be abundant.
We go to church to be changed - changed into Christ’s likeness so we might be more fruitful in our living. So we might bear much fruit.
We go not to keep bad things from happening to us, but so good things can happen through us. It is where we are pruned so we can produce good fruit. Pruned to love more and hate less. Pruned to accept difference more and judge less. Pruned so we can forgive more, trust more, be gracious more, be more like Christ. We may not like it at first; it certainly will not be easy, but it is the way it is when Christ comes into our lives. It changes everything . And we need a lot of pruning to get it right; to bear abundant fruit in our lives.
“He cuts off every branch of me
that doesn't bear grapes. And
every branch that is grape-bearing
he prunes back so it will bear even more.”
John 15:2
Prayer thought for the week: “Lord, prune me and help me to bear abundant fruit in your kingdom, your kingdom on earth.”
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