Every branch in me that does not bear fruit he takes away, and every branch that does bear fruit he prunes, that it may bear more fruit. (ESV)

He cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit, while every branch that does bear fruit he prunes so that it will be even more fruitful. (NIV)

Dive Deeper:

Man, the Christian life is so easy! There’s absolutely no pain. 

Sarcasm.

Jesus never said that it would be easy. And honestly, I kinda thought it would be…and that’s what they call a missed expectation, folks. Cause He actually said the opposite (quite a few times.)

I remember the first time in my Christian life when I really walked through something hard, like life-shattering hard. 

Initially, I assumed God was bringing me through it to make my circumstances better—to make the things He had given me better. Instead, what I quickly came to realize was that the thing God wanted to change was my heart. 

The Spirit’s primary mission isn’t changing our circumstances; He’s after changing our hearts, which will inevitably change our lives. Simply put, God does things to us to allow things to happen in us. 

Following this pruning season, I am different. I would even say “I don’t feel like myself” or “a piece of me is missing.” And if I’m honest, maybe even part of me misses that. Cause it was easier before. But when I really think about it, all the way down. I am not that “self” anymore. Life isn’t as easy as it used to be. And I am slowly beginning to believe that’s a good thing.

Here’s how I’m different: 

My capacity has changed. I feel crappy and exhausted when I try to put myself first (which I can still tend to do.) My capacity to think highly of myself has become really…really low. All the fake joy is gone. 

On the other hand, I now feel so much more alive when I choose to love people than I ever did before. If I want to truly live, I need to love. Not myself. Others. 

I’m not who I was before. The old fruit is gone, the new fruit has grown in its place. 

Dead branches—the ones who want the easy life—the shrub in the wasteland type (Jeremiah 17:7)--suck all the energy from the vine. They take its power all for the sake of fruitlessness. So the vinedresser must cut them off. 

But, fruit-bearing branches—the ones who want the good and rich life—get pruned. We understand that we can’t bear fruit by our own strength, but rather by our weakness. We know that we need to become something new. To bear new fruit. 

We’re not pruned for personal prosperity; we are pruned for the fruit of loving others.

The Christian life isn’t easy; it’s good.

Written by Blake Stanley