The True Vine

There is a tree growing right outside my bedroom window. It's close enough that in the spring I look for signs of new buds. In the summer, I watch birds hide their nests in the leaves and when autumn arrives, bright red berries appear, making it even more interesting. But in the winter, when the tree is bare, it's kind of ugly and I can see that it needs to be pruned. Some branches are broken off and laying on the good branches. Some branches are dead and show no sign of fruit at all.

I got to thinking about "The True Vine".

John 15:1-2 "I am the vine, and my Father is the husbandman. Every branch in me that beareth not fruit he taketh away: and every branch that beareth fruit, he purgeth it, that it may bring forth more fruit."

I looked up the word "purgeth" because it sounds harsh, yet at the same time the verse is giving us such hope.

Purgeth: To cleanse of filth, impurity. To prune trees and vines from useless shoots.

What a blessing it was when I read this, because it's what my heart wants. To be clean before God, to be pure. Purging is meant to be a good thing in order to get rid of all the useless junk in my life that just hangs around looking "ugly". What a comfort to see in these verses that God is the husbandman. He knows exactly where and how we need to be pruned. He sees right into our hearts.

The Bible says in Hebrews 4:13 "Neither is there any creature that is not manifest in His sight: but all things are naked and opened unto the eyes of him with whom we have to do."

He sees the changes that need to be made in me. Do I trust Him enough to let Him prune those changes in me? I think of the times when God allowed some kind of trial to come to help prune some ugly impurity out of my life, and I bucked against it. At the time it didn’t feel so good. How foolish I was! It's obvious when I read these verses now, that we need to be purged and pruned in order to bring forth much fruit. Fruit, is proof that we are abiding in Him. If there is none, then we are more like the dead broken branches on the tree outside my window.

The Bible says in John 15:6 "If a man abide not in me, he is cast forth as a branch, and is withered: and men gather them, and cast them into the fire, and they are burned."

God doesn’t want us to just bring forth some fruit. The Bible says much fruit. The only way that can happen is for those who abide in Him, to allow the loving hand of the husbandman do the work only He can do. Not only will the husbandman clean us up and take away the ugly useless things in our life. But...

John 15:7 "If ye abide in me, and my words abide in you, ye shall ask what ye will, and it shall be done unto you."

Sounds like it's worth it!

Wow!

Love you bunches, Dianne