If you grow any fruits on your backyard, I believe not once have you ever seen one of those fruit trees struggling to bear fruit. In fact, I don't think those fruit trees ever even think about fruitfulness. Their fruitfulness totally depends on us to make sure they get the proper sunlight, water, fertilizer, and pruning.
Jesus taught His disciples about spiritual fruitfulness using a vine, a branch, a gardener, and fruit to illustrate His points.
For a branch to have fruit-bearing potential, it must be alive. Since it has no life of its own, it must be organically attached to the vine so that the sap, or life, of the vine flows up through the trunk and into the branch. The branches of a vine "abide" by just remaining connected to the vine. Permanently. Consistently. Day after day, week after week, year after year. They simply rest in their position, allowing the sap of the vine to flow freely through them. They exert no effort of their own. The fruit that is subsequently borne on the branch is actually produced by the life-giving sap within.
To abide in Christ means to remain connected to Him so completely that the "sap" of His Spirit flows through every part of your being, including your mind, will and emotions as well as your words and deeds. The 'fruit' that you then bear is actually produced by His Spirit in you through no conscious effort of your own. If you and I want to be fruitful, we do not concentrate on fruit-bearing; we concentrate on our personal relationship with Jesus Christ.
The abundance of fruit produced by a branch is in direct proportion to the size of the connection where the branch is joined to the vine. The smaller and more constricted the connection, the less fruit is borne because the capacity for sap is small. The larger and more expanded the connection, the greater the fruitfulness because the branch has a greater capacity to be filled with the sap. In order to expand the connection, the gardener cuts, clips, and cleanses the branch to force the connection to the vine itself to be enlarged.
There are times when he cuts the branch back so drastically all that is left of it is the connection to the vine. Jesus described this drastic pruning in a believer's life when He explained that "the gardener cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit".
You an I can trust the gardener to skilfully, personally, lovingly, and effectively use the shears in our lives. He will not cut you back so much that you are broken beyond the ability to grow, nor will He quench you to the point that you give up and quit. So trust Him. He's been pruning for years. He knows what He's doing.
"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." John 15:2
BE FRUITFUL!!
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