“Every branch in Me that does not produce fruit He removes, and He prunes every branch that produces fruit so that it will produce more fruit.”— John 15:2
Every vine, if it’s healthy, has branches. Jesus compared himself to a vine. He said He’s the true vine, the only one based in the Godhead. All other vines that supposedly lead to help and strength now and to life after death are false. They don’t begin from the Godhead and don’t lead followers to true Life.
Jesus called His disciples branches. He said every branch from the vine that does not produce fruit—meaning obedience to God that causes others to know about Jesus and/or be helped because of His love in the disciple—will be cut off. Notice the difference in words in this verse. The branches not bearing fruit are cut off to be burned up. The branches producing fruit are pruned.
Cutting off and pruning have two different purposes. Cutting off something to burn up bears witness that the thing removed was tainted, infected, unproductive and producing a fruit that did not carry the standard for which the vine grew. Pruning is not done to remove something producing fruit contrary to the vine. Pruning a vine is done to grow a branch more inline with the potential of the vine. It gives the fruit of the branch a more intense flavor similar to the first fruits of the vine, and, therefore, similar to the vine.
The branches (true believers) in the true Vine (Jesus) are pruned (trained, disciplined, mentored, corrected, encouraged) so that what they teach, preach, do, and think is what Jesus thought, said, and did. Pruning makes the branch more like the Vine. It ensures the fruit of the branch are greater in cluster and intensity so that the seeds of that fruit bear much fruit with the intensity of the Vine.
This should make us stop and consider if God is pruning us or cutting us off. If you’re truly a believer in Jesus whose life has been changed so that your words, actions, and attitudes are less like your old self and becoming more like Jesus, God will prune you. If, however, you have never believed in Jesus or say you did but never changed your life and submitted to God, God will cut you off. Why is this important? Pruned branches continue to grow, thrive, and become more like Jesus, with His passion, intensity, and purpose. They live with Him forever. Cut off branches are burned.
What is the Vinedresser (God) doing to your branch, pruning or cutting you off from the Vine?
