Lent Day 31, 2024: Pruning that profits us
It's painful to lose things. Sometimes we have to wave goodbye to a friendship, a job, or a home. Sometimes it seems like God is angry with us or that it's our fault. But Jesus offers a different perspective.
Jesus talks about the value of the hard times, when things are pruned away. “I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener. 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 15:1-2)."
Sometimes what you leave behind is something that has outgrown its season or taken energy away from your true purpose: a fruitful life. Other times we don't know why we are being reshaped.
It can hurt. The writer to the Hebrews notes: "No discipline seems pleasant at the time, but painful. Later on, however, it produces a harvest of righteousness and peace for those who have been trained by it (Hebrews 12:11)."
Challenge: Think of something God has "taken away" from you - security, relationships, health, pleasures ... How is he at work in this new season. What does this loss make possible?
