The Importance of Pruning
This morning our men's Bible study explored the concept of spiritual pruning. It is clear from John 15:2 that once a Christian bears some fruit, the Father prunes that person, so he or she can bear more fruit. Pruning is removing unnecessary shoots from the branch, so all of the energy can be put into a few fruit bearing limbs. The concept is, simply stated, less is more.
We discussed the fact that we had to remove sins, and that related to being clean in verse 3. However, the pruning was not just removing bad things from our lives. It was removing good things which did not lend themselves to us producing more fruit. In practical language we have to listen to the Lord, when He tells us to stop doing so many things that we do not have energy to put into fruit bearing. Remember, the fruit of the Spirit comes by the power of the Spirit, not by our effort. However, we must spend time with the Lord and obey His commands for the fruit to be seen in our lives. Then, the other fruit is influencing others to become believers and believers to be mature disciples. That does take intentional time and effort on our part.
I gave some examples from my own life. I have stopped watching sports on TV for hours like I once did. However, I still do too many things which sap my spiritual and physical energy from bearing fruit, so that I must listen more closely to the Father as He shows me what to remove from my life. My goal is to bear much fruit, so I have to be pruned, and I have to continue abiding in Christ for that to happen. What do you think about pruning? What would you have to stop doing in order to bear more fruit and much fruit?
Tomorrow, I intend to read I Kings 6-7 and Luke 20:27-47.
We discussed the fact that we had to remove sins, and that related to being clean in verse 3. However, the pruning was not just removing bad things from our lives. It was removing good things which did not lend themselves to us producing more fruit. In practical language we have to listen to the Lord, when He tells us to stop doing so many things that we do not have energy to put into fruit bearing. Remember, the fruit of the Spirit comes by the power of the Spirit, not by our effort. However, we must spend time with the Lord and obey His commands for the fruit to be seen in our lives. Then, the other fruit is influencing others to become believers and believers to be mature disciples. That does take intentional time and effort on our part.
I gave some examples from my own life. I have stopped watching sports on TV for hours like I once did. However, I still do too many things which sap my spiritual and physical energy from bearing fruit, so that I must listen more closely to the Father as He shows me what to remove from my life. My goal is to bear much fruit, so I have to be pruned, and I have to continue abiding in Christ for that to happen. What do you think about pruning? What would you have to stop doing in order to bear more fruit and much fruit?
Tomorrow, I intend to read I Kings 6-7 and Luke 20:27-47.