Daily Devotion: Pruned to be Fruitful

Scripture
John 15:1-8
Main Verse:
John 15: 5
I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing. 

Observation:
Jesus used many allegories to reveal himself and his relationship with the Father. In John 15, he likened himself to a vine, with the Father as the gardener, and the branches as his disciples. If you have a garden, you know that it is important to clean every shrub or tree in your garden. Any dead or sick branch is cut off from the main tree because it is useless. These dead or sick branches can never bear any flower or fruit, and keeping them will not benefit the tree because it will compete with the other branches for nutrients. However, a healthy tree needs to have its branches pruned so that it can bear more fruit. 

All throughout John 15, the Lord kept repeating the word "remain." I have had my devotion about this in my post "Remaining in Christ's Love." The Lord gives this as a command with a warning about what would happen if we do not remain in him. If we just say we believe in Jesus, we are not fulfilling his command. He wants us to remain in Him so we can bear fruit. Saying that we believe in Jesus is not enough. Even the demons believe that there is one God and "they tremble with fear" (James 2: 19) But if we are truly Jesus' disciples, our faith in him will result to a transformed life. 

Application:
In one of the articles that I read about farming and gardening, the author emphasized the importance of pruning, especially young trees or plants. Farmers believe that pruning plants is importance for the following reasons: it trains the plant, maintains the health of the plant, and helps the plant produce quality flowers or fruit. Pruning the tree trains the plant to maintain its desired shape. Pruning also helps keep the plant healthy because you remove the dead, dying, or diseased branches. This helps the tree to grow healthier ones. Lastly, by pruning a tree, the tree grows better and/or bigger flowers or fruit. A tree will produce several small fruit if it is not pruned; A tree that is pruned will grow good quality fruit. 

Our Father in Heaven wants us to bear fruit, but that is only possible if we remain in Christ. If we remain in Christ, He can train us so that we can become better and healthier disciples, and eventually produce genuine followers of Christ. Our fruit as a disciple can bring blessing to others if they see in our lives that we have a healthy relationship with the Lord. As a disciple, we should always remember that the end purpose of remaining in the Lord is to be able to glorify the Gardener of our life, our Father in Heaven. 

Prayer:
Father, I want to grow more good fruit. Prune me and remove anything that would hinder me from bearing the fruit that would be a source of blessing to others, so that others may exalt your name through me. AMEN.