roots and fruits
The vinedresser is never nearer the branches then when he is pruning them.
-- David Jeremiah
I have had times in my own Christian walk where my fruit was rotting, and I desperately needed to be pruned and have some branches completely cut off…
Some of the things I hear come out of the mouths of Christians, some of them people I love, and I know love the Lord, and shamefully sometimes out of my own mouth, is so un-Christ like, it’s no wonder the world today is confused about Jesus. People who need the Lord are hurting alone, in darkness, and turned off by or away from the church.
I came across a video I suspect many of you have already seen of Nikki Leonti and her performance on America’s Got Talent, Mother, Father and Daughter Sing Together! What she had to say in her intro hit a deep nerve in me and really made me sad. She speaks to having secured a Christian recording contract as a young teen, touring and performing in the Christian music circuit, until she got pregnant, out of wedlock, and suddenly she no longer “fit the mold.”
I know I do not have all the details, and details do matter, but what I also know is this…What an opportunity missed by the Christians in her life at that time who crushed the spirit of that young, likely frightened, broken, yet extremely courageous young girl. This young girl chose her child over her career. Whether she knew what the repercussions would be or not, I don’t know, but she chose life for her daughter and that could have been used as a very strong testimony.
The older I get the more I see one opportunity after another being missed by those of us who love the Lord and desire to be “Jesus with skin on” to a world of lost, confused, and hurting people.
I heard a podcast yesterday where the minster used the term, “CPR world.” That was how he described today’s world, a world where people are in serious need of an emergency life-saving procedure as people are spiritually dying in droves.
We are living in a time when the church, being the body of Christ, is incredibly divided and under attack. Our world rejects truth and absolutes, which Christ is all about. Let’s be honest, if you do not have a standard, a bar to measure things by, anything goes, and isn’t that exactly where we find ourselves today?
What is truth? What is a lie? Who determines what is right or wrong?
I have said it many times in various blogs, God is not a God of coincidence. In the Bible, you see throughout history, He is very intentional, and He is all about truth and absolutes. God does not waffle as our world waffles. Moral standards and moral right and wrong is clearly defined in the word of God.
How will people truly know we are Christians?
I absolutely love working outside in the dirt. I find a tremendous sense of fulfillment and pride in a good day of hard physical labor out in our yard, weeding, pruning plants, flowers, and trees. When I have worked hard, I’m covered with sweat and dirt, I’m exhausted from my labors, and when I am a bit sun kissed from heavens rays, that is when I really feel alive! I have been this way my entire life!
I will confess however, I enjoyed it more when I was younger and the days of recovery, if there even were any, were far less painful and lengthy as they seem to be getting with each passing year.
We have a fairly large property with quite a few planted areas that require weeding and pruning. It all can get overgrown and out of control very quickly. In order to stay on top of things it requires some form of regular maintenance, a little bit each day.
We plant the seeds, nourish and water the soil, and care for things in an effort to help the plants, flowers, or trees develop deep and strong roots. Without strong roots there will be no strong stem or foundation to sustain the weight of the plant or keep it strong through the wind and storms.
The health of the roots is revealed in the fruit it produces.
As I was weeding my garden beds over the past week, I kept thinking about the process of gardening and the connection between the dirt, the roots, the stems, the weeding, and the pruning. I thought about how much it compares to the cycles of our lives and how the fruit we bear reveals the health, or lack of it, in our own roots.
Our fruit reveals what (or who) we are rooted in and who we have as our gardener. The fruit we bear shines a light on how we get nourishment for our hearts, our minds, and our souls. Who is our gardener? Who/what do we look to for nurturing the soil of our souls where our roots take hold? Who do we allow to nurture us and prune us? It is all made transparent by the fruit we produce.
Who is your gardener? Is it cable news? Hollywood? The Kardashian’s? Athletes? Social Media?
If you have ever had the pleasure of touring wine country, Italy, Spain, Napa Valley, (too many to even name), whether you are a wine connoisseur or not, I would suspect you found it fascinating! To learn about the vineyards and the work that goes into gaining even one yield of wine is incredible and shows a true labor of love. The viticulturist (wine grower/farmer) must understand and value the importance and necessity of caring for, nurturing, and especially pruning their vineyard. Pruning is an absolute. Without it, the vineyard is useless.
“Pruning decisions impact the volume and quality of grapes come harvesttime, and also present an opportunity to control disease and address vine damage. Left on its own, a grapevine will sprawl and spread itself out, producing as many leaves and as much fruit as it can. You might be thinking, “More grapes! What’s wrong with that?” But unchecked grapevines yield more grapes than [viticulturists] grape growers are looking for—huge crops can ripen unevenly and usually result in grapes that lack the intensity of flavor needed to make great wine. Pruning helps focus the vine’s energy on producing a smaller volume of the best grapes possible.” (Wine Spectator)
Our behavior and our words represent our yield of fruit to the world.
Whether we want to hear it or not, Christians have a not-so-great reputation in our world today, and to be honest, I kind of get it. The past, but in particular, the last few years our political environment has brought to light some pretty unsavory fruit coming from churches, and many of us who call ourselves Christians. There has been some pretty rotten fruit in the bushel that has spoiled the testimony of many a Christian.
“I like your Christ, I do not like your Christians. Your Christians are so unlike your Christ.”
― Mahatma Gandhi
Jesus tells us in John 15: 1-2 “I am the true vine, and my Father is the true gardener. 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.
He goes on to tell us in John 15: 5 “[Jesus is] the vine; [we] are the branches. If [we] remain in Him and [He] in [us], [we] will bear much fruit; apart from [Him] [we] can do nothing. (vs8) This is to my Father’s glory, that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be my disciples.”
Jesus was telling the disciples and all Christians that he was setting them apart for a lifestyle of bearing fruit, and their fruit would come as a result of God’s intentional pruning.
“A wise vinedresser doesn’t let his fruit grow wildly on its own. In order to produce the best fruit, he must follow the established rules of pruning by cutting away dead or overgrown branches to encourage growth. Before the grapes can be made into wine, pruning must occur.” (God-prunes-those-he-loves-Dave Furman)
I also glean from this scripture that Jesus is supposed to be our vine and our gardener. He is the deep root that we look to help us stand tall and strong. He is the one from which we are to gain all our nourishment, and apart from him, much like the unpruned grapevines, left on our own, we will sprawl and spread out, seeking something to fill us up, to nourish our roots, and leaving us with unhealthy fruit and out of control vines, and dead branches.
I periodically ask God to show me if there are things that need to be cut off because they are hindering my relationship with Him or my testimony to others.
Recently, I have had some conversations with fellow Christians, conversations that I have not been able to get off my mind. My heart was pained (and frustrated) to hear their thoughts about others who are struggling in this life, the younger generation and their “anything goes” mentality, the state of our world, addiction, depression, young girls pregnant out of wedlock, the unsaved, and basically every human being on this earth not living as Christ calls us to live.
First, remember, Christians cannot hold non-Christians to biblical standards they are not aware of, nor do they believe in.
Second, Truth is, we all are struggling with some sort of sin. Not one of us is exempt.
The lack of faith it seems that these folks have in Jesus’ ability to change the hearts of those who are currently lost or struggling, the condemnation, the sense of assuredness that “those people” would never get it figured out and would always be lost, really hit a deep nerve in me.
No wonder people are not interested in Christianity or the church. I can’t blame them.
These are people I know love the Lord, they seek Him and His guidance, but the fruit they are bearing is lackluster. It is legalistic. It seems their roots, while established in faith, need pruning and fresh nourishment, their hearts need pruning, and some branches need to be cut off all together.
I can identify this and speak to this because I too have had times in my own Christian walk where my fruit was rotting, and I desperately needed to be pruned, to have some branches completely cut off, and thankfully someone loved me enough to call me out on the fruit I was bearing. Praise God!
So, how exactly will people truly know we are Christians?
Galatians 5:22-23 (NIV) “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law.”
(Paraphrased from, (Meaning of Galatians 5:22): It is helpful to know that the above scripture is meant to imply a single fruit, not nine separate fruits, but rather nine characteristics of the single fruit of the spirit. As our roots develop in our faith, our lives will reflect the above characteristics and overall, people will know we are different because of the lives we live.
Let’s look at these “fruits of the spirit” from the perspective of the Christian life as opposed to how the world will view these words. The world generally defines most of these words very differently, often from a perspective of relativity and no absolutes.
Love, from the Greek term agape, means selfless love. We should live with an attitude that considers others over self. This does not mean we are a doormat, but that we serve without expecting anything in return. A personal example from my life; I have helped others I know struggling with personal issues, with no expectation in return, but also having very clear and healthy boundaries.
We can show Godly love, and not be an enabler. This love does not mean we are not to hold people accountable. In fact, this love is exactly the opposite of our world’s idea of love. Accountability is better than enablement. Remember, teach a person to fish and they eat for life. Give a person a fish and they eat for a day.
Joy, translated from the Greek chara, doesn’t necessarily imply happiness, but rather an inner confidence we will have in trusting our gardener, Jesus. It’s a supernatural peace not dependent upon our circumstances, and we are able to bring a sense of calm and stillness when the rest of the world is falling apart.
Patience, this is our ability through the Holy Spirit/Christ, to wait on God’s perfect timing, even when our will is failing, the ability to endure hardship, and to whether the storm.
Kindness, sounds simple, but is not always easy. Through the Holy Spirit/Christ we can be kind to anyone, even those who are challenging and offensive.
Goodness, the ability to do what it right, even when no one knows or is looking. It implies a moral decency.
Faithfulness is a crucial word implying endurance driven by trust. In the Holy Spirit/Christ, we will keep going in the right direction, even when we don’t fully understand what God is doing. (end of paraphrase)
“As Jesus spoke of Himself by saying, "I am the true vine," He was trying to help us understand the value of being connected to Him by faith. A deep and growing relationship with Him will result in peace in all circumstances, hope in trials, strength in adversity, and joy that cannot be taken from you.” (Jesus said, "I am the true Vine"-John Stange)
The fruit we produce, reveals the health of our roots.
Oh, I have days I lose the fight
Try my best but just don't get it right
Well I talk a talk that I don't walk
And miss the moments right before my eyes
Somebody with a hurt that I could have helped
Somebody with a hand that I could have held
When I just can't see past myself
Oh Lord help me be A little more like mercy' a little more like grace
A little more like kindness' goodness, love, and faith
A little more like patience's a little more like peace
A little more like Jesus, a little less like me
The purpose of pruning is to improve the quality of the roses, not to hurt the bush. — Florence Littauer
The same is true of us. Pruning is not to hurt us. Pruning brings about a better yield.
People are hurting and people are craving something real, and something deeply rooted in truth and love.
This world needs to see truth.
I don’t want to be a person who calls herself a Christian, but yet my roots are weak, unhealthy, and the fruit I bear is tasteless, colorless, and unappealing to those who are hurting or those who need a friend. I want people to be drawn to me because they know there is something different about me, something they don’t see in others.
The only way I can be this person is to have a strong foundation rooted in faith/the vine/Jesus, to nurture my roots through spending time in His word and in prayer, and then to allow Him/my gardener to cut off the branches that are dead and that misrepresent Him and prune the areas of my life that are not producing my best fruit so that the quality of my fruit will be improved.
It’s the only way for me to be, A little more like Jesus, and a little less like me.
Something to consider: How deep are your roots? Who nourishes your roots? How healthy are they? Who is your gardener? Do you need pruning? There are many ways God can choose to prune us. He can use difficult times in our life. He can use illness, ours or of someone we love. He can use our jobs, our kids, our neighbors, and on and on. What’s important is to know that just as we prune our gardens to reap our best crops, God must prune us in order for us to produce our best fruits.
