Trials Can Produce Good Fruit – Part 2
Yesterday I shared about my lonely orange tree, and today I want to finish the message on how trials can produce good fruit.
My orange tree was surrounded and almost overtaken by what I call a weed with pretty little orange flowers on it. You can no longer see the ground or the trunk of the tree because of the beautiful weed. The branches above are covered in this weed. It’s when you pull the weed to the side, that the fruit is revealed.
I started pulling the weed from the tree, and as I grabbed parts of it, it pricked my hands. Not only had it overtaken my orange tree, but it had developed prickling barbs along its vine. The only way to remove it was to use gloves and some cutters.
The good news folks is that the weed can be removed from the orange tree with a little work and determination. My orange tree can show off its beautiful fruit once again and fully soak in the sunshine. The orange tree can continue to thrive and not be choked out by the weed.
We can do that too, my friend.
Who is your gardener?
Who can remove the weeds in your life that long to choke the life out of you?
Jesus Christ.
Jesus Christ can remove the weeds in our lives that long to choke the life out of us, that long to overtake us and cover us with ugliness and chaos. Trials can grip us and rend us useless. We struggle to do anything because the trials we are going through make it difficult to live. Trials make it difficult to move freely, much like the weeds that choke out the branches of the fruit tree.
When Jesus comes into your life, we have someone who walks with us through the trials. We’re no longer suffering alone. We no longer feel trapped or overwhelmed because Jesus is near and loves us.
As I think about removing those weeds from my orange tree, the branches and leaves on the tree will have to move and bend from the force of me pulling the weeds away.
We, too, will have to move and bend as Jesus works on us.
John 15:1-2 says, “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 bears fruit he prunes so that it will be even more fruitful.”
Let’s pray
Lord, thank you for being the gardener in my life. Father, strengthen me to go through the process of ridding the weeds that long to choke the life out of my friends and me. May we continue to reach toward your hand, to draw closer to you every day. In Jesus’ name, I pray amen.
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