Dear Church,
One can’t help but notice how quickly plants grow in the summer. As we walked on the rail-trail yesterday, there were places where vines are reaching well beyond the fence and are encroaching on the path. Bushes in my yard are in desperate need of trimming. The tomato plants are looking like small trees. It reminds me of Jesus’ teaching on the vine and the branches, in which he is the vine, we are the branches, and the Father is the vine dresser.
The goal of the plants in a vegetable garden is to have them bear their respective fruit. In addition to all of the elements needed for the plant to grow – sun, water, nutrients – additional attention is required to produce a larger harvest. The work of the vine dresser is to clean (“trim”) the branches, removing the “suckers” (growths that do not bear fruit but take away the nutrition from those that do), so that the branch will be much more fruitful.
For us as God’s children, that means that we need first to stay connected to the vine (Jesus) to receive the nutrition we need (abiding in the word of God and prayer guided by the Holy Spirit). It also means that we need the Father to trim away those things that detract (so many sources of distraction, laziness, sin, and neglect – all belonging to the old nature) so that the branch (you and me) can bear much fruit (fruit of the spirit, blessings of our service, and new life in those who have been reached by the gospel).
The trimming the Father does comes through many different means. God’s Spirit may enable us to practice spiritual disciplines. The Spirit may convict us about sin in areas of our lives from which we need to repent. Trials may come that help us recognize our true need to abide in the vine. Often trimming can be uncomfortable, even painful, yet trimming proves to be fully beneficial, producing the fruits of righteousness, holiness, joy, and perseverance.
God will complete that which he has begun in each of us. I pray for myself and each of you that this summer will be one of abundant growth as well as the Father’s removal of those things that detract such that we will enjoy an abundant harvest all to the glory of God.
Be Encouraged,
Brother Tom
