Pruning

(This post is based on Luke 13:6-9, John 15:1-17, Galatians 5:22-23, and Deuteronomy 30:15-20.)

Jesus compares humans to plants in a number of places in the Gospels. Fig trees, grapevines. He says we are plants in a garden or vineyard that are being tended to. If we produce fruit, great. But if we don’t produce fruit, then we are cut off and thrown into the fire.

But even if we are kept in the garden, it’s not pleasant, necessarily. Jesus said that we are pruned. To prune a plant, you chop off the branches and stems that aren’t as healthy so the plant can focus its energy on growing the stronger, healthier parts of itself that will produce more fruit. That sounds painful, though, doesn’t it? Getting parts of your body hacked off. Trees can regenerate and make new branches, but still. Less than pleasant. But it’s the only way to help the tree focus on the branches that are actually doing well. And I’m assuming it’s true for grapevines, too.

And the same is true for us. God usually doesn’t remove a literal arm or leg from us, but he also doesn’t shield us from pain. I mean, we don’t know what he has prevented, but we do know that he allows a lot of hurt into our lives. Disappointments, rejections, losses, sufferings, abuse, pain. Physical, emotional, psychological, relational. None of us are truly shielded from the storms and sorrows of this life.

These things can be the making or the breaking of us. They can prune away the parts of us that are less than ideal, such as pride, excessive anger, and impatience. They can teach us to rely on God and make him the one we seek satisfaction from. They show us the value of forgiveness, love, and reconciliation. They can reveal to us improper ways of interacting with the world, teaching us courage and kindness, helping us break the cycle of generational sins.

Or they can embitter us, closing us off from the world and those who would love us if we let them in. They can warp and shift us, changing us into monsters like the ones who brought the suffering into our lives, and before we know it, we are continuing the cycle of sin that has been passed down for generations. We pull far away from God and people, shutting our hearts off so we neither love or are loved. We neither truly know others, nor are known ourselves. We foster hate instead of forgiveness. These sufferings reveal to us improper ways of interacting with the world, yes, but instead of choosing courage and kindness, we walk in those improper ways and choose the path that spreads that hurt on to others.

We are raised in a culture that says any slightest bit of discomfort is evil and should be cropped out of our lives. Do your muscles hurt? Take some painkillers. Did that person disagree with you and now you feel slightly hurt? Cancel them. Did that boy say he doesn’t like you in a romantic way, even though you totally like him? Ruin him. I’m honestly not sure how much of this is our culture and how much of it is because humans are wimps. (Don’t deny it; we really are.) But it’s still our natural tendency: flee from any type of suffering at all costs.

But what if that neuters our ability to become better people, the kind of people God wants us to be? What if the pruning really is necessary? What if our struggles and sorrows, no matter how big or small they may be, are there in part to remove the weaker parts of ourselves so we can focus on growing the parts of who we are that will produce much good fruit? What if the sufferings are to point us to God and the beautiful reality he is creating for us, and the Heaven he will bring when he comes back for us?

We have a choice, though. Only we can decide which path we will take, towards life or death, blessings or curses. Will we choose to allow our pains, from the little discomforts to the debilitating sorrows and sufferings, to drive us to God, life, and growth…or will we allow them to pull us away from God and stunt us into a mere shadow of what we could be?

It’s our choice.

Which one will we take?