3:11, 12 – My son, do not despise the chastening of the Lord, nor detest His correction; for whom the Lord loves He corrects, just as a father the son in whom he delights.
In the book Secrets of Vine, Bruce Wilkinson makes the point that God chooses to “prune” us for different reasons. It’s always necessary, BUT (and here’s the important part), it’s not necessarily because we “deserve” it.
When the branch of a grapevine is laying in the dirt, the vinedresser washes it off, lifts it up, and ties it to the trellis, so it can grow and flourish and bear fruit. In the same way, God disciplines us. He lifts us up, washes us off and works to affix us to His Word so that we can grow and flourish and bear fruit. The discipline continues until we change (start growing in the right direction).
The other reason vinedressers prune their vines is to increase each vine’s fruitfulness, and the vinedresser keeps pruning until he is finished. That is exactly what God does with us. He prunes us to increase our fruitfulness, and God keeps pruning…
…until He is finished!
Our problem is it doesn’t matter why He’s doing it; pruning hurts!
If we’re being pruned (and we can honestly say it’s not because of sin), then we are being pruned so we can:
- Bear fruit
- Bear more fruit
- Bear much fruit.
There’s a whole lot more to it, but it’s vital to understand that God never prunes because He’s angry, or mad, or peeved. He prunes because He loves. If you want to shorten the time under the shears, ask Him how you can help in the process.
(Oh, and one more thing. The most mature vines produce the very best fruit AND the most mature vines need the most pruning. Sorry about that.)
