It’s Cut Season

31 Jan It’s Cut Season

In John 15: 1-4 Jesus is speaking, and he says “I am the true Vine, and My Father is the vinedresser. Every branch in Me that does not bear fruit, He takes away; and every branch that continues to bear fruit, He [repeatedly] prunes, so that it will bear more fruit [even richer and finer fruit]. You are already clean because of the word which I have given you [the teachings which I have discussed with you]. Remain in Me, and I [will remain] in you. Just as no branch can bear fruit by itself without remaining in the vine, neither can you [bear fruit, producing evidence of your faith] unless you remain in Me.”

In vineyards, there are vinedressers who are involved in the daily pruning and cultivation of grapevines. This is a centuries-old profession, that is an important component of the production of wine.

A vinedresser’s job is exceptionally important because if the grapevines are not pruned, then they just spend all their energy, “just growing”.

I’m sure that when you just read “just growing”, you thought to yourself, what’s wrong with that? Growth is a positive thing, right?

Well, to give you perspective, let’s look at this in two ways:

First, there’s the growth cycle of an unpruned grapevine (Every branch in Me that does not bear fruit, He takes away):

•        From 0-5 ft the vine produces fruit, then⁠
•        from 5-12 ft the vine produces only leaves, and ⁠
•        any growth after 12 ft only produces only a useless stick. ⁠

If you spend all your time focusing on your growth and you never take a moment to prune what is not producing fruit in your life, then you are just putting all your energy into “just growing”. If you are doing the work (reading, learning, stretching), but you do not take time to stop, access, and remove the habits and relationships that aren’t edifying to your journey, then you too will stop producing fruit. ⁠

Second, let’s consider the term “takes away” in the scripture (Every branch in Me that does not bear fruit, He takes away):

“takes away” is a translation of the Greek verb “airo”. The word can mean to “take away”, but it can equally, be interpreted as “lift up.” When a vine is wet on the bottom because it has grown down and onto the dirt/mud, it requires some sort of prop to keep air flowing underneath (so that it doesn’t die).

The process of pruning vines includes ‘selectively remove branches’ from the vine, with the goal of removing unnecessary, dead, and diseased/damaged vines to promote healthy, new growth.  But, the ‘propping up of vines’ promotes growth, by moving it away from its original position for isolation, relocation, and/or refocusing.

It’s week four in our GOALS series and as much as I like goals, and especially the goals about growth, I cannot encourage you to ONLY focus on growing, I must also, encourage you to prune and move your branches.

Women of Judah, it has been my experience that God will move you from a position of security to one of doubt to promote your growth (see: increase your faith), but there are sometimes we are called to do the hard work ourselves and trim or move our own branches.  Before you commit to your goals for the year, I would like you to stop and close your eyes, just for a moment to access where you are right now. Consider the positions, relationships, habits, and ideas in your life that are not bearing fruit.

Do you need to prune them, or do you need to refocus them?