I am what you might call a recreational gardener. It’s a hobby I find great joy and satisfaction in. I love the reward of seeing the literal fruits of my labor season after season.
One of the more difficult disciplines for me has been pruning. It just feels counterintuitive. Why cut back on something for it to do better? It’s usually the opposite: encourage growth, not cut back!
Ah, but with fruit-bearing, cutting back is essential to producing more and better fruit. And more and better fruit is always the goal.
In ministry, I’ve experienced this counterintuitive process of pruning.
Years ago, a pastoral position opened in the church I came to faith in, was discipled in, and was being mentored for ministry in. The lead pastor thought it made sense to have me fill the role since I was already part of the church’s culture and being trained for ministry.
Not everyone in the church thought so, though, and the vote to call me their associate pastor failed by one. I was devastated. My own church family said no to me. Ouch!
In the weeks following that fateful vote, one of our leaders—a simple, humble man—pulled me aside, opened his Bible to John 15:2, and shared with me these words: “Every branch that does bear fruit he prunes, that it might bear more fruit.” He went on to say, “You have been bearing fruit, but I believe God has even more for you if you will let Him prune you through this process.”
Such wise counsel that I, by the grace of God, took to heart.
Instead of focusing on church politics and other external factors that may or may not have contributed to the voting process, I looked inward and let God reveal my own heart. There, He showed me pride—a pride that assumed more of me than I should have—a pride that needed to be dealt with before I was given the high calling of pastor. (Spoiler: They did extend the call to me six months later, nearly unanimously.)
All these years later, I am thankful for that simple moment and the powerful truth of a single verse. God did have more fruit for me, and I believe better fruit has come through many years of ministry since.
More and better fruit follows the pruning. God’s pruning, while it may seem counterintuitive to you (“This makes no sense! Why, God?!”), may be His way of allowing the sweet work of transformation to take place in your own heart and life.
Be encouraged; you are bearing fruit, but if you are in a season of pruning, it means God has more for you in the future.
Press on through the pruning!