John 15:2

       “Every branch in Me that does not bear fruit, He takes away; and every branch that bears fruit, He prunes it so that it may bear more fruit.” Many years ago, I had a Ruby Red Grapefruit tree in the backyard that produced the biggest, juiciest grapefruits I have ever had, and family and friends agreed. I learned from this verse that if I wanted it to continue to bear much fruit, I needed to learn how to care for it. I learned how to prune it and why. When branches dry up they still suck up the nutrients trying to look alive, but they didn’t bear fruit, they were dead. I would cut off every dry branch, no matter how little it was, to give the fruit-bearing branches the nutrients they needed to continue to bear more fruit. Now I don’t know if a tree or vine feels pain while being pruned, but from a Christian perspective there is pain in the pruning, but the results are the same, more fruit. If we are not connected to Christ, we do not receive the nutrients through the Holy Spirit needed to bear fruit as Christians. This is told to us in verse 5, “I am the vine, you are the branches; he who abides in Me and I in him, he bears much fruit, for apart from Me you can do nothing.” When we look back and see the great things God did through us, but have looked back and see nothing after that, we may have become dry. When we look back and see what God did through us, then remember the painful trial that came afterward, we can also see the new fruit it produced. To bear much fruit, we, just as the vine or tree, need to be pruned after every fruit-bearing season. Are you still bearing fruit? When was the last time you were pruned to bear more fruit?