Taken Away

In John 15, the apostle John reported the Jesus said that He is the true vine. We are the branches that must stay attached to Christ in order to bear fruit in our lives. Now, that sounds easy; we are part of the same plant as Christ, and God the Father is our Gardener. But it's not as easy as that. If you know anything about gardening, you know that pruning, cutting a plant back, is necessary for it to grow in a productive way and bear fruit. God will cut everything out of our lives that will cause us to be unproductive or unfruitful. That's the pruning process for a Christian. We've all been through it, I'm pretty sure. Sometimes pruning is hard. Sometimes it's painful. It's not an enjoyable process, but because it is the work of God, it's always worth it.