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"You are my friends if you do what I command" What a great concept that I can be a friend of Christ! However, from the previous verses we see a heavy emphasis on "abiding" with Him. Of course, the reality is to really know a friend we have to spend time with him/her. It's no different with Jesus, except the promises are so much more.
When you read about how those branches that do not produce fruit will be cut off and burned it's a wake up call. Jesus doesn't expect us to say "the prayer" of salvation and then sit back and do nothing. He expects us to produce fruit. But He makes it so simple for us, Abide in Him!
This passage really hit me hard, in regards to what kind of fruit am I producing? What about you? What is the Holy Spirit prodding you with?
John 15
ReplyDelete2 ...He cleanses and repeatedly prunes every branch that continues to bear fruit, to make it bear more and richer and more excellent fruit.
As we come closer to Him and feed on His Word, we become changed. Cleansed in each pruning, little suckers are lopped off that drain and hinder growth. We become more aware. While looking up the correct spelling of lop, -ing refers to horses, -ping to cutting off, I found an interesting article that can be applied spiritually:
Pruning is a horticultural practice involving the selective removal of parts of a plant, such as branches, buds, or roots. Reasons to prune plants include deadwood removal, shaping (by controlling or directing growth), improving or maintaining health, reducing risk from falling branches, preparing nursery specimens for transplanting, and both harvesting and increasing the yield or quality of flowers and fruits. The practice entails targeted removal of diseased, damaged, dead, non-productive, structurally unsound, or otherwise unwanted tissue from crop and landscape plants. Specialized pruning practices may be applied to certain plants, such as roses, fruit trees, and grapevines. Different pruning techniques may be deployed on herbaceous plants than those used on perennial woody plants. Hedges, by design, are usually (but not exclusively) maintained by hedge trimming, rather than by pruning.
pruning: selective removal
benefits: improves strength against adversity, growth from dormant buds
directional or formative pruning: removal of appropriate branches to make the tree structurally sound whilst shaping it (I like that word! Must be an English article.)
new growth that will more readily bear fruit and flowers
"opening-up" the branching of neglected
...cut in a location where growth will occur;
dormant bud clusters, leaving a stub of dead wood. The withered stub will eventually rot away and fall off. All cuts should be relatively smooth since this will aid in healing.
What I liked the best was “specialized pruning.” And targeted removal! Who better than our Master Gardener can do our pruning!!
11 I have told you these things, that My joy and delight may be in you, and that your joy and gladness may be of full measure and complete and overflowing.
ReplyDeleteAs we are healed, our joy and gladness is in full measure, complete, and overflows to others! How great is our God! His joy and delight in us!
I like knowing that I am the branch of the vine. That gives me a direct connection to Jesus. The branches cannot live without the vine. It also gives me connection to all the other branches. We are all connected. The same life-blood moves through us all.
ReplyDelete