I would rather be cut than to be burned
“If a man abide not in me, he is cast forth as a branch, and is withered; and men gather them, and cast them into the fire, and they are burned”. John 15:6 (KJV)
By Bobby R. Henry, Sr.
I like doing yard work especially weeding my flower beds because every time I do I have discovered something new to me. This time it was, my maybe Physocarpus opulifolius ‘Summer Wine’ named for its dark burgundy leaves and vine which has beautiful white round bulbs in the fall and spring of the year that bloom into pretty white flowers.
This ‘Summer Wine’ I know some of you probably think I just adore this plant because of the name, in all honesty, it is beautiful and wild.
‘Summer Wine’ grows faster than Usain Bolt runs the hundred meter dash which causes me to cut and prune often.
Cutting and pruning is more than a notion, something I had to learn. I would cut one way and the vine would pop up four or five feet away in another direction. I wouldn’t know it until it was covering my beds like ‘Creeping Charlie’ weeds. Beautiful it may be but boy can they be a hassle.
If I’m not careful I would get more vine than buds and the vines can grow ANY where.
Situations in life can be just like that. If you allow things to creep in unattended, soon enough, whatever it is, takes over. What was once a beautiful garden is now a weed bed.
Our pastor, Dr. Marcus Davidson, preached from the Book of John, chapter 15, verses One-Five as it spoke about the tending to His garden and what it takes to continue to bear goodness. I’m not equipped to delve as deep as he did nor do I have his understanding; however, I did get the message.
Jesus is the true source of good life; God is the Supplier. He tends to and does what is necessary to produce good fruit and even more fruit. We are already able because of what He has given to us- His Word. All He asks us to do is stay connected to Him through Jesus
and let Him do the gardening. Because a branch cannot bring forth into being fruit unless it continues to be connected to the vine. Jesus is the vine, and we are the branches. As long as we stay joined to Jesus, God will stay connected to us. That way we will make plenty of fruit. We can’t do anything without Jesus.
What I gleaned from the message is that proper growth in life, as it is in a garden, requires appropriate cultivating from the hands of an experienced gardener from the preparation of the soil to the tending of each plant.
This requires the cutting into and away from a good plant (life) and also throwing some things into the fire to be burnt.
This experienced tender must have full knowledge of all of the contents and species planted in his gardens.
He must also know the suitable nutrients needed to sustain adequate growth, when to cut and what to burn as well as when to supply such. To understand proper placement with other growing plants is essential to create the best possibilities for an outstanding garden.
Once this has been inculcated into the growth habits of the garden, the gardener has to characteristically make inspections, test and examined the garden for pestilences that can damage the garden beyond repair, hence the need for cutting verse throwing into the fire to be burned.
Simply stated, growth requires a need to cut and a necessity to burn away from.
“For before the harvest, as soon as the bud blossoms And the flower becomes a ripening grape, Then He will cut off the sprigs with pruning knives And remove and cut away the spreading branches”. Isaiah 18:5 (NASB)
Dear Lord when there is a need to cut or burn in my life, I ask that You be the Gardner and the fire retardant. —Bobby R. Henry, Sr.
