We have a rose bush in a planter on our back deck. It’s the only place we have around our house that receives enough sun and is protected from the marauding herd of deer that will munch it down indiscriminately. Around February or March, we should prune this rose bush back. One year we got busy and forgot. Spring came early and before we knew it, the rose bush was in full leaf with the promise of a flourish of blooms. It looked healthy and vibrant and it seemed a shame to cut it back. So we didn’t.

Flowers opened at the end of spindly branches and it was beautiful. For about a week. The flowers quickly faded and dropped off. The leaves began to turn brown and fall off as well. Not long after, the skinny little branches began to die back as well.

That’s what happens to rose bushes that don’t get pruned. They’ll grow and have a single flourish and then peter out.

Pruning is what promotes the growth.

God's pruning promotes our growing into Christ's image. Click To Tweet

Previously, as we have explored the depth of John 15: 1-8, we discovered what it means to be clean and what deadwood might need to be cut out. The exciting thing about studying the scriptures is that there is often treasure to uncover in the very next phrase! And this is true for us now as we ponder the second half of John 15:2.

“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” (John 15:2).

At first glance it can seem like “cuts” and “prunes” can mean the same thing. They are, after all, a similar action – a removing, a cleaning up. When we take a look at the original language though, we discover that John used two distinctly different words for two distinctly different messages. We learned earlier, the first word translated “cuts off” is the Greek word Airo carries with it the idea of something taken away, gotten rid of, or removed. Made so it isn’t there anymore. This is the action God takes as he removes our old life of sin, cuts away that deadwood.

This second word we encounter is kathairõ and it conveys a cleaning up, a removing of unproductive wood, a purifying action. Unproductive wood is different than deadwood. Unproductive wood is alive. It is simply not producing the fruit or the growth that it should be.

If we are honest with ourselves, we will admit that cutting out and removing that ugly dead to sin stuff is a good thing in the long run. It creates space for God to cultivate his new fruit. Fruit that grows us into Christ-likeness and brings God glory. We may be less excited about the idea of pruning in our lives. The process of pruning shapes, trains, corrects, or redirects a growth pattern. In order to do that, pruning requires that we cut back into living branches. Inherently it implies we might experience a little discomfort, if not down right pain.

On the surface our lives can look like an abundance of growth. We are rooted in our community of faith. We are part of a Bible study or the choir. We are active on the PTA or we hold down a full-time job. We are doing a lot of really good things.

But just like my rose bush, we experience short seasons of blooms that quickly peter out because we are operating out at the end of some pretty spindly branches.

God desires that we have strong branches. He’ll work in our lives to cut the unproductive things back for the purpose of growing that which will be a greater flourish. The tension arises when our definition of what is unproductive differs from God’s definition.

As we begin this part of our journey together, I encourage you to take a few moments. Days even. Make a list of everything you do in a day, a week, a month, and a year. Make a list of the things that are obligations, those that are voluntary. Start with your calendar. Make a list of your relationships. Make a list of your habits and hobbies. We’ll come back to these lists – these branches of our lives – as we continue our study with the five lessons we can learn from the rose bush.

Flourish my friend!

Denise

If you are looking for a devotional Bible study that will further encourage finding the connection between scripture and life today, might I recommend either Breaking the Chains or Heart Renovation? These are compilations of devotions and scripture teachings from various authors, so you will enjoy different perspectives throughout the book. They are designed for personal or small group study. I am honored to be a part of these two great works!

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