John 15:2

"Every branch in Me that does not bear fruit He takes away; and every branch that bears fruit He prunes, that it may bear more fruit" John 15:2

If every plant has roots, then most plants have branches. There's an interesting thing about branches. They produce fruit. Now don't mistake the word fruit for "fruit." Some trees do produce delectable fruit that is beautiful to the eye and delicious to the tongue. Other trees produce nuts while still others produce fruit that is inedible and perhaps even poisonous. The word "fruit" is simply defined as a necessary seed bearing part of a plant.

Let's ponder the true fruit trees for today. Let us imagine for a moment that we have a cherry tree in the back yard of our old house. It's is not much of a tree, and the fruit isn't much to look at or eat, but it is a cherry tree - an ancient one at that. If I really wanted good fruit from that tree, I will have to cut out the dead wood that abounds in it. Then during the beginning of the fruiting season, I will need to examine each branch for small, developing fruit. If a branch did not have fruit, I would cut it off. If I really wanted the biggest, best, juiciest cherries, I would look for deformed fruit and cut it off. I would remove all but the biggest cherries from each clump of cherries. All of this pruning would assure me that the remaining fruit would receive all the nurturing the tree could give. The result could be prize winning cherries! (At least that's the theory.

The Lord has to do the same thing with us. You see, we are spiritual trees. It is our purpose on earth to produce fruit. There are many fruits we need to produce. We could start with the fruits of the Spirit in Galatians. We could move on to the most important fruit - SOULS! Our lives ought to be of such quality that our lost neighbors, co-workers, family, and friends want nothing less than what we have! Unfortunately, we all have "branches" in our lives that are not bearing good fruit. It may be an unholy anger, or lust, or drunkenness, or thievery, or lying, or - and the list goes on. All of these branches are in need of removal. Our Father knows just what branches to prune and when to prune them - you see, not all bad things can be removed at once. It would destroy the life in us. It is important to let Him do the pruning - especially in the lives of others. In our lives, we will find that He will point out those areas in need of pruning and ask us to voluntarily remove them. If we continually refuse, the our Lord will do it for us - but the pain will be much more intense.

So the question for today is this: "Do you have some branches in need of removal?" If the answer is "yes", I suggest that you set about doing it as the Lord directs. Hallelujah, Amen and Amen.