Ethically Sourced Fruit

Check out Andy Flannagain's new blog on Ethical Fruit !

John 15:1-2 (ANIV)

"I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener. [2] 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."

So he cuts off the dead, dry branches that aren’t bearing any fruit. In my desire for efficiency I’m well up for that. If some of the things I spend my time on are fruitless then I want rid of them too. Bring it on! But I practically spat out my “fruit ‘n’ fibre” as I, perhaps for the first time, grabbed the implication of the next bit. “every branch that does bear fruit he prunes” ! Other translations have phrases like “he cuts back”, or “he purgeth it”, or “he cleanseth it”. Hang on - I wasn’t so sure I liked the sound of that. The stuff that is actually being fruitful needs to be cut back? The stuff that’s going well? That sounds a bit painful! I just knew God was speaking to me. At that stage I wasn’t sure re the specifics (and the full picture is still emerging), but I knew that I had to go through a process where God would prune back many of the things I am involved with to enable the fruit to be of better quality.

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