Jesus = The Vine
All of us humans = the branches
Production of fruit = end result when the branches remain connected to their life source/vine.
I don't know if it is the new version of Bible I am using (English Standard Version) or if these verses have become so well-known that I no longer truly pay attention when reading (sad, but it happens), but the end of verse two hit me between the eyes and caused me to pause.
" . . . and every branch that does bear fruit he prunes, that it may bear more fruit."
Prune - to cut away/ to trim by cutting away dead overgrown branches or stems, especially to increase fruitfulness and growth.
And it hit me.
Sometimes we are pruned not as a way of discipline or as a result of our sin or as a means of God trying to teach us some magnificent lesson, but instead because God has full confidence in our reaction to His touch. Maybe we are entrusted with the pruning, the suffering?
Sometimes pruning looks like trials and suffering and disappointments, but it is always for my good and for His glory and ALWAYS allows more fruit to flow from my life if I let it.
Sometimes we can be fully connected to the vine and feel the most alive we have ever felt and are still called to seasons of pruning because the whole point of this thing is to increase the fruit, add to the harvest, and grow the kingdom.
Some of you might read this and think, "Um yeah. We got that. Bible 101."
Yet maybe someone else feels a bit relieved that their circumstance that feels beyond overwhelming, that burden they're carrying, is not there as punishment but as provision because God is so, so pleased with their walk and knows that together, hand-in-hand, even more fruit is on the horizon.
Could it be that sometimes He prunes out of genuine pleasure, because He trusts us?
Entrusted with suffering.
It still hurts like heck, no doubt, but that's really good news.
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