Trouble brings perfection

When we sin, God disciplines. When we don’t sin, God perfects.

I am the true vine, and my Father is the vinedresser. Every branch in me that does not bear fruit he takes away, and every branch that does bear fruit he prunes, that it may bear more fruit. Already you are clean because of the word that I have spoken to you. John 15:1–3

God loves you just the way you are, but He loves you too much to leave you the way that you are. He wants to perfect you. “And I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ.” Philippians 1:6

If you are a fruit-bearing branch, God will prune you. He will take part of your life—perhaps a good part. It is not just sinful things He prunes; in His own sovereign wisdom, He prunes us for His own purposes. Greg Laurie tells the poignant story of how God’s pruning worked in his life:

I had always assumed that I would finish my race before my sons, and that I would pass the baton on to them. But my son Christopher beat me again! Beat me to heaven! And now, in effect, he has passed the baton on to me, and I have to finish my race. We all have a course marked out for us and a race to run and to finish. And we don’t know how long this race is going to be; we never know when our lives will end. So we need to be ready, and we need to run our race well.

In the gospel of John, Jesus tells His men that the Master Gardener “prunes those branches that bear fruit for even larger crops. He has already tended you by pruning you back for greater strength and usefulness. Take care to live in me, and let me live in you” (John 15:2, 3, 4, TLB).

I have been pruned. My branch, my dear son, is gone. Yet my life goes on, and the Lord still desires much fruit from the years I have left to me.

While people don’t have a choice over whether they will experience pain, they do have a choice as to how they will respond in it.