His pruning knife usually hurts...

We once lived in California in a rented house with fruit trees in the yard. Born and raised in a colder climate, we knew nothing about caring for fruit trees. Thankfully, the rental came with a gardener. He cut the grass, removed the weeds, and pruned the trees.

Actually, I did have a chokecherry tree in my farm yard, but after a couple of years without seeing any berries, I took out library books and discovered the reason: it needed severe pruning. One book said to trim it so a good-sized bird could fly through the branches. I did. It seemed mean, but the next year this tree was loaded with fruit.

Jesus tells how my life is like that tree. Without pruning, fruit will be absent — and He is not talking about berries.

The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law. (Galatians 5:22–23)

Each item on this list is further defined in the NT showing how they go beyond normal human capacity. When I read 1 Corinthians 13, I know that I cannot love like that without the power of the Holy Spirit. It is the same with joy. Human happiness depends on circumstances but the joy of the Lord is present even during severe trials.

Besides this list, qualities such as humility, modesty, truthfulness, and purity or any other trait that appears in my life that would not normally be characteristic of me may also be a fruit produced by the Spirit in my attitudes and actions. I am aware of the difference between His work and what my old nature is like. Without Jesus, I am not patient, have little self-control, and pride is a constant problem. Without Him, I cannot be like Him. 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 does bear fruit he prunes, that it may bear more fruit. Already you are clean because of the word that I have spoken to you. Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit by itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in me. I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing. (John 15:1–5)

The pruning part I don’t like. It often catches me by surprise and takes no account of my desire or prayers to make it stop. God knows what hinders me and keeps at me with the knife of His Word and the circumstances of life until that branch is finally history.

His mercy is such that sometimes I don’t notice the knife. When I was a new Christian, I yelled at my kids way too much. I asked God to help me, and for a few months life went on, and then I noticed I wasn’t doing it anymore. That was painless pruning. Other barren branches take longer and have been removed through difficulties and painful methods. Yet in them, I’m learning. Thankfully.

Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness. And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing. (James 1:2–4)

PRAY: Last night was a trial. I ate something earlier in the week that turned my digestive tract into a mine field. I don’t recall asking You to help me lose weight, but You know I wanted that. So You did it, not like I would have wanted. Greater measure of self-control would have been nicer than this shortcut. I know most people would write this off as food-poisoning and dismiss it, but You have been showing me that You are totally involved in my life and have reasons I may not see. As my mom always said, I’m learning that “I must need it or I would not be getting it.” For that, I thank You and am glad that all things work together for my good, to shape and prune me so I am more like You.

Not all sunshine…

 

Today’s devotional writer again uses this passage to describe spiritual growth:

And which of you by being anxious can add a single hour to his span of life? And why are you anxious about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin, yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. (Matthew 6:27–29)

The comparison uses pleasing images such as ‘the thinking of the Sun of Righteousness’ and ‘the dew of heaven.’ This writer also says that leaves and flowers will follow, and added that I should be aware that ‘the thinnest covering’ can block His means of growth and reduce it to ‘dwindle and fade as a plant in a cellar or under a bushel.’

I chuckled in memory of two things. One was my mother standing over the flats of petunias from the greenhouse and hitting them with her rake. She did this because she discovered they grew better with a good swat of adversity. This was left out in the devotional reading ‘means of growth’ description, but it should be there because I know that I’m more like a petunia than a lily. I need a good swat now and then, never mind that life is filled with ups and downs and God uses all of it to help me grow. The Bible backs this up by this early learned and favorite passage:

And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose. For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers. (Romans 8:28–29)

Key words? ALL THINGS. This includes tough times, trials, hard to live with circumstances. Growing in Christ is not always about sunshine, dew, rain, leaves and blossoms. Sometimes it includes dark nights, dry spells, aphids and other pests, mildew and disease, not enough or too much fertilizer, and getting run over by a rake or the lawn mower.

The Lord says and means ‘all things’ because He knows what I need to become like Jesus. His life was not all roses and comfort. He left heaven to be here — that was the first shock. Then He took the form of a helpless baby who had to obey His parents. He grew but…

For he grew up before him like a young plant, and like a root out of dry ground; he had no form or majesty that we should look at him, and no beauty that we should desire him. He was despised and rejected by men, a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief; and as one from whom men hide their faces he was despised, and we esteemed him not. (Isaiah 53:2–3)

This does not fit with a human value system nor does it suggest perfect growing conditions. Even at the height of His popularity, He had enemies who wanted Him dead and eventually got their way.

From that time Jesus began to show his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things from the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and on the third day be raised. (Matthew 16:21)

He was tested in the wilderness, tested in the marketplace, tested in the temple, and tested in the garden. People persecuted, mocked, tortured, and walked away from Him. To be like Jesus, His followers experience some of what He experienced. As He said, “… A servant is not greater than his master.’ If they persecuted me, they will also persecute you….” (John 15:20)

Besides hitting petunias with a rake, my mother taught me a valuable truth. Whatever happened, she said, “We must need it or we would not be getting it.” While God protects me from many things, He also uses what most would call negative or uncomfortable situations and events to purge from me all that is not like Jesus, much like a carver chisels away what does not fit with the creation he is forming. Life is not always comfortable, but under the shaping hand of God, my destiny is certain — I will be like Jesus when He is done.

Beloved, we are God’s children now, and what we will be has not yet appeared; but we know that when he appears we shall be like him, because we shall see him as he is. And everyone who thus hopes in him purifies himself as he is pure. (1 John 3:2–3)

PRAY: This promise of eventually being like You, Jesus, often seems totally impossible, but it helps to know that even in those days when I feel as if I’m getting hit with a rake, You are using it for my transformation — so help me to keep that in mind instead of whining or insisting that You remove whatever is causing my discomfort. Help me accept that even the tough stuff can change my life.

Knowing and accepting God’s Will…

As a new Christian (more than 50 years ago) a major truth I learned was this:

And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose. For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers. (Romans 8:28–29)

The delight of that discovery stuck. God uses everything to conform me to the image of Jesus. My part? Pay attention. As today’s devotional says, so many Christians have a problem seeing God in everything. They say, “I can easily submit to things that come from God, but I cannot submit to people…” or the weather or whatever, making a life of faith only a theory. Almost everything has a human element of somebody’s failure, ignorance, carelessness, or sin. God does not author sinful things. So often, the humans involved are blamed, resented, retaliated against, and resisted. Yet I understand those verses to say that God uses whatever happens to me to change or provoke a godly, Christ-like response. They could harm but He does not intend harm.

My mother often said, “We must need it or we would not be getting it.” She accepted that all things had a purpose. If I need to be kind to others, God allows situations where that can happen. If I need to better keep confidences, people tell me their secrets. It isn’t always simple to discern what good He wants for me in every situation, but the gist is that Jesus lives in me and God uses the happenings of life to bring Him out where others can see what He is like.

The reality is that if I am trusting my life to God, then others are not being allowed to mess with me and have a prevailing influence in my thinking and actions. When I look for God's hand in what they do to me, then there is a choice: a response from my old nature — or a response from the One who lives in me and is changing my life to be like His.

Last night someone shared how she erred and God rebuked her, but it felt good. I responded with, “God is the only one who can kick our backside and hug us at the same time.” Everyone laughed because we have all had that lovely experience. His discipline is in love, in wanting the best for us, and we know it and are glad for it.

With that attitude, I can say: The Lord is on my side; I will not fear. What can man do to me? (Psalm 118:6) Yet it works only if I see God in everything and receive everything directly from His hands, with no intervention by second causes. This makes possible that joyful estate of entire abandonment and perfect trust.

PRAY: Lord, last night everything ached and I felt like staying home from our regular Monday Bible study/prayer group meeting. I went, almost against my will, and soon realized being there was Your will. My aches quickly vanished and joy filled my heart. This was another of the enemy’s devices, designed to stop me from obeying You and using all sorts of things to do it. Sometimes emotions, sometimes physical aches and pains, sometimes the actions and attitudes of other people, or my own, anything negative. Spiritual wars are seldom obvious and none of them are won by looking at the clashing swords or listening to the sounds of ammunition. They are only won by recognizing that You have a purpose in the events, I need to accept it and look for what You want. But if Your will is not involved, then I can ask You to remove the problem, or distraction, or whatever is turning me away from You. Thanks for the immediate sense of peace and well-being when I accept Your will, no matter what.

Becoming what I already am . . .

 

READ 1 John 1–5

This fall I was elected by a non-profit organization to the position of governance. I knew nothing about what that job entailed but was assured that it was not beyond my ability to learn and do. I’m still on that learning curve and realize it is much like being enlisted in the army. Most new solders bear the label — “You are a soldier” — but must train for the task. Boot camp and years of experience happen before the label fits.

It is the same for Christians. We are saved, then spend the rest of our lives learning how to be what we are, mostly by enlightenment from the Holy Spirit and the example and teaching of those who came before us. According to much of the NT, if that is not happening, then we were not enlisted in the first place. John is a favorite instructor. He says:

That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we looked upon and have touched with our hands, concerning the word of life— the life was made manifest, and we have seen it, and testify to it and proclaim to you the eternal life, which was with the Father and was made manifest to us— that which we have seen and heard we proclaim also to you, so that you too may have fellowship with us; and indeed our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son Jesus Christ. And we are writing these things so that your joy may be complete. (1 John 1:1–4)

Of course joy is not the only result of walking with Jesus, but a good teacher puts emphasis on the positive. John has more to say about what happens when a person truly becomes a Christian. For instance, “If we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin” and “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” (1:7; 9)

He also says, “Whoever keeps his word, in him truly the love of God is perfected. By this we may know that we are in him: whoever says he abides in him ought to walk in the same way in which he walked” and “Whoever loves his brother abides in the light, and in him there is no cause for stumbling.” (2:5-6; 10) These are identification marks of a genuine Christian. There are fakes though . . .

John warns about antichrist who denies the divine identity of Christ, and those who keep on sinning. Neither can claim to be a child of God. This is not how true salvation works. Instead, becoming a child of God changes our attitude toward sin and toward others. We are able to love on another, even though the world may hate us.

God also answers our prayers, gives us insight into the spiritual realm, and the ability to discern truth from error. The greatest change is loving one another, confessing Jesus as the Son of God, and an ability to overcome the world (fleshy desires and pride). John says this is all true because:

. . . . God gave us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. Whoever has the Son has life; whoever does not have the Son of God does not have life. I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, that you may know that you have eternal life. (5:11–13)

This is an amazing thing — to just “know that we are from God . . . . and also understand that the whole world lies in the power of the evil one” but also that “the Son of God has come and has given us understanding, so that we may know him who is true; and we are in him who is true, in his Son Jesus Christ. He is the true God and eternal life.” (5:19–20)

This is what faith is: just knowing. It is not assumption or wishful thinking. When a soldier puts on that uniform, he knows he is a soldier, yet he may not know much about how to act like one and will learn many lessons about this new life. Belonging to Jesus is like that, yet greater and permanent. John writes in this short but beautiful letter:

Beloved, we are God’s children now, and what we will be has not yet appeared; but we know that when he appears we shall be like him, because we shall see him as he is. And everyone who thus hopes in him purifies himself as he is pure. (3:2–3)

For me, this is joyful assurance and heart-settling. I am God’s child. I’m not yet all that I will be, but have His assurance that one day I will be like Jesus. Praise His name!