“I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener. He cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit, while every branch that does bear fruit He prunes so that it will be even more fruitful… This is to my Father’s glory, that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be my disciples.” (John 15:1-2, 8)

Nothing brings glory to God like people getting baptized and disciples bearing “much fruit!” Over the last couple of weeks, it has been nothing short of amazing to see so many awesome baptisms. On Sunday, February 26th, Tobi got baptized. The following Sunday, March 5th, Kadisha, Antonisia, Anjola, and Corneille got baptized. Finally, last Tuesday night, March 7th, Adrian was baptized! We believe that each baptism is a modern-day miracle. And it was a miraculous nine days!

Interestingly, this past Friday, we had one of the worst snowfalls of the year. In some places, thirty centimetres of snow fell in about eight
hours. The snowfall left many motorists delicately trying to traverse around deep snow without getting stuck. Just outside my house, there was a driver who was not so lucky. His small car, which probably only had front-wheel drive and no snow tires, was spinning its wheels and not going anywhere. The car drew my attention because I could hear the tires spinning inside my house. Curious, I went to the front window to look, only to find a driver aggressively trying to loosen his car from the snow.

As I watched for a moment, I hoped to see him get out of this dire situation so I wouldn’t have to suit up, get out there, and help him. But he would hit the gas, the tires would spin, and the car wouldn’t move. This sequence happened over and over. Sometimes he would keep the tires spinning for long periods, which seemed to indicate his frustration with his circumstance. Still, the car was unable to free itself from the
thick ice.

Feeling obligated to be a good Samaritan, I decided I had better get outside and help. But as I was about to walk over to my front door and get on my snow gear, I noticed the driver change his strategy. Instead of hitting the gas to go forward, he put the car in reverse.

Although this is probably logical for most of us drivers who have found ourselves stuck in similar situations, it was not so for this particular driver. However, he eventually figured it out. He put the car in reverse, and the wheels spun in the opposite direction. Snow shot up towards the front of the vehicle, and the car moved back slightly. He quickly put the car back into gear and then went forward. He did this a few more
times until he finally freed his vehicle. I was fired up because I no longer had to go in the cold weather and help him! But I was also excited because it occurred to me that this situation demonstrated an important spiritual truth: sometimes you have to go backwards to go forward! This truth is evident in the case of a car getting stuck in the snow, and it is also true for God’s Church. The Bible teaches us that God
cuts off the branches that do not bear fruit, but He also prunes branches that are fruitful so that they will be “even more fruitful!”

How does God do this? Is it that those disciples that fail to produce the fruit of discipleship will eventually leave the Church, and that those who produce the fruit of discipleship will be put through challenges and hardship so that their character can grow and they can bear more fruit? Yes, exactly! But different from how many of us think of it, I believe that these actions of God are not necessarily two different actions but one. In other words, those not bearing fruit will eventually be cut off, just like a gardener would remove a dying branch from a plant to prevent it from stealing nutrients from the more fruitful branches. But what about the branches left over? Doesn’t it hurt them to lose some of their fellow branches?

Yes! I think that this is partially the pruning of those that are fruitful. We have to endure the pain of losing those branches that are not bearing fruit. And sometimes it hurts us to watch people walk away from God; and indirectly from us, the Church. But as we learned
with the car getting stuck in the snow, sometimes you have to go backwards before you go forward. The Church must get pruned to produce even more fruit!

This type of pruning has already been apparent this year. Although we have seen eight souls baptized into Christ, we have also seen several people walk away from the Lord. Unfortunately, this can be frustrating for us, as we desperately want to bear “fruit that will last.” (John 15:16) Souls walking away from the Lord can even discourage some of us to the point where we don’t even produce fruit ourselves. However, I hope we can take to heart the critical concept that Jesus taught His disciples, that God must prune those that are fruitful to make them “even more fruitful!”

More fruit is what God has given us in the past couple of weeks, and I have no doubts that it will continue throughout the rest of the year! Yes, we had to go backwards to go forward. We had to be pruned and lose some branches to produce even more. Pruning will always happen. We will always have seasons when we have to go backwards to go forward. So let us strive to remain in Jesus and hold to His teaching.
For the Bible says that “If [we] remain in [Jesus] and[He] in [us], [we] will bear much fruit.” (John 15:5) To God be all the glory.

Evan Bartholomew