Jesus the Gardener

I was just thinking more about the fig tree analogy... And realizing how Jesus is constantly walking the garden of our souls. He is digging up soil and working to produce in us an eternal glory. He is doing a work in you to make you fruitful. One of these works is his act of pruning. Jesus is constantly working on sanctifying us. The definition of sanctification is the act of making holy, sacred, or free from sin. That is what Jesus is doing to you right now. He is at work on your life. He is preparing you to be in Glory. You are not quite ready. In fact, you have a long way to go if you are honest with yourself. But He is a patient Gardner. He says to the Owner of the garden, 'Please Sir, give me one more year to work.' And He sets to His work diligently.

One of the gardening processes that I like to avoid is pruning. There are branches and shoots that are dead or dying and they are stealing and wasting nutrients. A true Gardner prunes those branches off so the rest of the tree can grow taller, healthier, stronger. But pruning hurts. So we avoid it as best as possible. But we know that it is for our benefit. Let me ask you; In what ways are you allowing the winds of the world to bend your branches from the hands of the Gardner? Clearly you have dead branches. Jesus wants to prune them to make you more like Himself. What specific things are you holding back?

We both know that it is for your benefit that this work be done but all too often we listen to that crafty serpent that influences us away from the work of the Faithful Gardner. He convinces us that we need no work because we are already in His garden. 'Rest comfortably you have given your life to Him... you need nothing,' he says to us. That is a lie. Today Jesus is at work in your life. Pruning is not fun, it is by no means enjoyable, and on some levels it might be the most painful thing you endure. But Jesus our faithful Gardner is doing a work on you that will gain for you an eternal glory. Stoop low this afternoon and place your bows into the hands of the Gardner.