ON “PRUNING”
John 15 uses the word “prunes”, similar to the same word translated cleanse in other places in the Scriptures. The same term could apply to either “pruning” or “cleansing” in ancient Greek. The vinedresser cleans up the fruit-bearing vine so it will bear more fruit. If you leave a vine to itself, it will produce a good deal of weak growth. For maximum fruitfulness, thorough pruning is essential. Lifeless wood is worse than fruitlessness, for dead wood can harbour infectious diseases, ailments and decay. God removes the deadwood from His church and disciplines the believer’s life to be directed into productive activity. Have you not heard that if it is painful to bleed, it is worse to wither? Better be pruned to grow than be cut up to burn. That’s it!!!