In John 15 Jesus teaches the disciples about those that are within the body of Christ. Now I have mentioned other parts of this in other postings, but now I wish to discuss the “taking away” or “purging” that God will put us through time to time.
In this discussion of Jesus the Vine He mentions that His Father is the caretaker of the vine and that he will prune the branches time to time so as to allow them to bear more fruit.
It is the pruning that this posting is about. When you prune a plant. You do not just do it once. It is a continual and ongoing task, especially during the growing season. What God wishes to prune or purge is our sins. Even though we have asked Christ into our hearts these verses within John 15 shows all that even though we are saved we continue to sin. Any and all can agree upon this as they should. If they do not agree then they have a misunderstanding of the Bible and need to be corrected and shown these verses and have them explained to them. Anyway, back on topic.
So this purging that we must continue to go through throughout our entire temporal life is something we all must endure. Sometimes it will be easy. Other times we may have to go through a terrible event to cause us to awaken and allow God to clean us and make us better for Him. The death of someone you love, your home being burned down, floods, tornadoes. These are all examples of extreme events and they all place a strain upon us and in most times a strain in our believes. It is through such things as well as the easier things like a simple argument can be things that make us change our ways in a manner that is a bless unto us and ultimately God. What is the final goal in all this is to be a better servant to God and unto all of God’s creation. We are being taught to be the co-rulers of this earth during the Thousand Year Reign of Christ, which is just another step in our eternal service to God.
It is through this purging of this sin and then that sin that God places these burdens upon us. How else could he cause us to truly learn and change? As I mentioned before it is like growing up all over again just spiritually instead of physically. Is this not why Jesus stated we must be born-again in the spirit? We come into our salivation as new-born babes that need to be nurtured and supported. So we must seek out a good church home. My personal recommendation is a small church not a large one, for it is too easy to get lost in the crowd in a large one. Then when you are a spiritual teen you start to do things on your own, but still God tests and cleans you. Then one day you can be a spiritual adult. Someone that has the knowledge and the wisdom to offer up nuggets of insight into the wonders of God’s glory until it is time that he either calls you into heaven for a short time or the Rapture itself occurs. Only time will tell whichever is to be first.