Christians are promised suffering in this life! Suffering prunes you so that you might bear fruit, much like a gardener prunes a tree. Instead of being discouraged, let your suffering encourage you that you are a good tree in God’s orchard!
Hi, I'm Joni and I am slightly miffed at John 15:2.
Okay, I’m not really miffed; after all, it’s a direct quote from Jesus, and how could I possibly be miffed with him, right?! But here is what it says, it says, “Every branch in me that does not bear fruit he takes away, and every branch that does bear fruit he prunes, that it may bear more fruit.” And so, right there is a hard but precious promise. And it’s not for evil people. Rather, the promise of being pruned is for good people. Christians who bear fruit in this life, they are promised tribulation, pain, affliction, and suffering. I mean, that’s how the pruning shears feel. Not pleasant at all!
And so, friend, if you are seeing fruit in your life – either people coming to Christ through your story, or you’re seeing an increase of God’s grace and favor on your life, if you’re seeing the fruit of patience and endurance in your heart, or an ever-widening sphere of influence? Guess what. You are a really, really good tree in God’s vineyard. And good trees that bear fruit – such as I’ve described – good trees get pruned by the owner of the orchard. They get trimmed, thinned, lopped, and cropped. All to the end that we bear more fruit.
So what qualms could I possibly have about my quadriplegia, or chronic pain, or those bouts with cancer? I mean, I don’t even have a problem with my current diagnosis of pulmonary hypertension. Because I have been bearing fruit, and all these afflictions? Simply God’s way of bringing more fruit out of my life, as well as inside my life: fruit like endurance or perseverance. I mean, I enjoy the inside fruit of being satisfied with God, of being happy in him. My girlfriend Barbara Coleman, who suffers with chronic pain and sleepless nights, we both say that there are some nights we lie awake looking at the ceiling, and yet we feel so happy! I mean, how can that be but evidence that we are good trees in God’s kingdom? It’s why Barbara and I are such fans of Charles Spurgeon, who wrote…
“Must the fruitful bough be pruned? Must the knife cut even the best and most useful? No doubt it is so, for very much of our Lord's purging work is done by means of afflictions... It is not the evil but the good who have the promise of tribulation in this life. But, then, the end makes more than full amends for the painful nature of the means. If we may bring forth more fruit for our Lord, we will not mind the pruning and the loss. [Fruitfulness] takes away whatever appeared rough in the flavor of the promise. We shall by the Word be made more gracious and more useful. The Lord… has made us… fruit-bearing, [and he] will operate upon us till we reach a far higher degree of fertility. Is not this a great joy? Truly there is more comfort in a promise of fruitfulness than if we had been warranted riches, or health, or honor.”
Oh, those are such good words here by Charles Spurgeon! And so remember: the promise of trial and tribulation, the promise of afflictions, is not for wicked people. It’s for God’s people. So, whatever you do, do not be the tree that shades itself from the Son of God. Abide in him and let the fruit of the Holy Spirit blossom in your life. And when it does, do not resent the pruning shears that clip off your branches. Those shears are held by the very hands that loved you and died for you. And if Jesus died for you, then surely he can be trusted with the afflictions that he sends your way. So today, your hopeful word? Trust him with your hardships.
© Joni and Friends