Whether
spiritual or physical, there is always a birthing place and then a time of
total dependence on others for food, nurturing, clothing, bathing, and cleaning.
As newborn spiritual beings we are dependant on others for our care; God
sees to it that we receive what we need to grow. But just like the child who has
come of age and begins a new life, we too come to a place that we must leave the
comfort of home. God beckons to us
from a higher place, a place that requires total trust and reliance on His
Spirit for our daily sustenance. The
Apostle Paul wrote, “When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like
a child, I reasoned like a child. When
I became a man, I put childish ways behind me.” (I Cor. 13:11) When God calls us out of childhood into adulthood He causes
us to sprout; we become branches.
The
first indication of growth is a bud, on the side of the trunk, a small new
growth that is seeking its own direction, out and away from its source.
The first season shows the most visible change- from a bud to a small
limb. Another season comes and the
small limb has grown into a small branch. At this point pruning is necessary to
ensure that future growth is in harmony with the rest of the tree.
The changes that occur from this point on are not as obvious; this is a
time for shaping, from season to season, a snip here, a snip there. And finally
fruit is produced and the one-time bud now supports its own branches; each one
seeking its own direction, and they too will eventually need to be pruned to
ensure that their growth will also complement the tree.
When
God beckons us to join Him in a deep and mature relationship, He causes us to
become branches. We stop thinking and acting like children, we put
childish ways behind us and walk as men. Spiritual growth does not come
about without the necessary pruning that shapes us in such a way that we will
complement the Son of God. Jesus Christ is the vine that we grow out of
and His Father will prune us as He sees fit.
LJG
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