God “is” “the Vinedresser”. “Is” meaning ; “existing in this moment of time“, and “the substance, characteristics, and/or character of a thing”. God “is” a “right now”, “in this moment” God; alive, active and available to us. His “substance”, “characteristics”, and “character” is “the Vinedresser”.But without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is,…..” Hebrews 11:6
John 15:1-2 (NKJV)
“I am the true vine, and My Father is the vinedresser. Every branch in Me that does not bear fruit He takes away; and every branch that bears fruit He prunes, that it may bear more fruit.”
As we know, the process of “pruning” means not only cutting away “dead” (non-producing) limbs, but also removing other “sprouts”, on the primary productive branches, that will be competing for the nutrients and trying to produce fruit as well, which will eventually reduce the primary branch’s ability to produce. Consequently, these “sprouts” which have the appearance of possibly becoming a productive “branch”, need to be “pruned” away so they do not “suck away” the part of the productive capacity of the primary branch.
Viewing God as the “Vinedresser” may give us the image of Him attacking our life with a set of pruning shears, and/or a chainsaw, with which He will “amputate” those things in our life He sees as unnecessary. There are times when we may even wish, or expect, Him to “take” (forcefully remove) some unproductive (dead) things (habits, etc.) from our lives, and we remain bound up in them as we wait for Him to take action.
It would be nice if God, the Vinedresser, would simply come along periodically and “cut away” all those things in our lives that weren’t good and productive things in our lives; “cleaning up our act” for us, so that we could be more productive for Him. However, His primary mode of operation is not to “sever” things from our lives by “prying” our fingers loose from our “white-knuckle” grip we have on those unproductive parts of our life; rather, He uses the Word of God that is sown in our heart and the illuminating presence of the Holy Spirit dwelling in us to bring us to a point of desiring change and “releasing” those things to Him.
“Therefore humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt you in due time, casting all your care upon Him, for He cares for you.” 1 Peter 5:6-7 (NKJV) We are to “cast” things His direction, not expect Him to come and “wrestle” us for control of them.
Romans 12:1-2 (NKJV) “I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service. And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.”
There is a “transforming process” that we need to go through that really brings the “pruning process” and our “fruit-bearing” into focus. As we “present ourselves” to God as a “living sacrifice”, and “renew our minds”; we will find our desires shifting from “conforming to this world”, to “proving” (this word has to do with “approving” and “implementation”) the good, acceptable, and perfect will of God. As we engage in this process, the message of Hebrews 12:1-2 becomes significant for us as well.
“Therefore, since we have so great a cloud of witnesses surrounding us, let us also lay aside every encumbrance and the sin which so easily entangles us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of faith, who for the joy set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.” Hebrews 12:1-2 (NASB)
As we “renew our mind” and begin to “approve of and implement” (prove) God’s perfect will in our lives; under the direction of, and through the power of the Holy Spirit within us, we will begin to “lay aside” (put off from ourselves) every “encumbrance” and the “sin” which so easily entangles us; and the “pruning process” is in motion. We can easily understand that “laying aside” the “sin” is “cutting away” the “dead” limbs in our life. The problem arises with the “encumbrances”, because they are not “sin”, they are all those things the “sprout” up and detract from our primary “fruit-bearing” purpose. These “encumbrances” can be all kinds of “good” and “useful” projects, organizations, etc., that can become distractions and detract (suck away) the life and energy we should be devoting to the area(s) in which God desires to be our primary place of bearing fruit. And yes, I really struggle with the “too many irons in the fire” dilemma as well.
Allowing Him to “prune” away the “sin” in our lives is sometimes a struggle, because frankly, we enjoy some of it, and it may have a “hook” embedded into us pretty firmly. The “encumbrances” are quite another story however, because we can easily justify them because there may not be anything “sinful” about them; in fact, they may be good and beneficial things. BUT, are they, like unnecessary “sprouts” on a branch, “sucking the life” from us that should be going into producing the “fruit” God wants us to be producing. That part of the pruning process involves some “hard choices”; but if we “fix our eyes on Jesus”, and really listen to the “still, small voice” of the “Vinedresser” in our heart, we will know which “encumbrances” we need to jettison in order to successfully run our race.
Our concept of His “isness”; the manner in which we define His nature, substance, characteristics, and character, and the way we “receive” His “isness” into our life and depend on (have faith in) it, will be the role that we “anticipate/expect” or “will allow” God to play in our lives.
“But without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is,…..” God “is” “the Vinedresser”.
*** Fred Wilson *** is an author, former coach, teacher and Life and Liberty News Contributor
