Morning Musing: John 15:2

“Every branch in me that does not produce fruit he removes, and he prunes every branch that produces fruit so that it will produce more fruit.” (CSB – Read the chapter)

The school where my boys go has an incredible front yard. It’s gigantic, for one. Even more important for me, though, are its trees. It has several humongous, mature, beautiful oak trees scattered across its expanse. When they all bloom in the spring, they are exquisite to behold. Big, old trees are one of my favorite things, and these are among the best I’ve seen anywhere. Over the last few weeks, though, some tree guys came and butchered them. They cut the end off of all the branches. Now, instead of being perfectly formed specimens, they’re all gnarly skeletons of what they once were. Yet as much as I hate to see them lose their perfect form even for a little while, this was something that needed to be done. It was actually an illustration of something Jesus said here. Let’s talk about it.

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Morning Musing: Micah 5:10-14

“In that day — this is the Lord’s declaration — I will remove your horses from you and wreck your chariots. I will remove the cities of your land and tear down all your fortresses. I will remove sorceries from your hands, and you will not have any more fortune-tellers. I will remove your carved images and sacred pillars from you so that you will no longer worship the work of your hands. I will pull up the Asherah poles from among you and demolish your cities.”‬‬ (CSB – Read the chapter)

If you were to read these verses all by themselves and without knowing anything about what came before them, what would you think is Micah’s focus? What is “that day” in which God is going to do all of this removing and destroying? As a first guess you might go with something like the day of judgment. That would make sense. On what other day would God do all these kinds of things to the people? Well, as it turns out, that’s not quite right. In context, this all falls not on a day of judgment, but a day of restoration. What gives? Let’s talk about it.

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Morning Musings: Philippians 1:6

“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.”  (ESV – Read the chapter)

This is one of my favorite verses.  It speaks of God’s long term intentions with us.  When He starts something, He doesn’t ever leave it unfinished.  When we give ourselves to Christ, the Holy Spirit begins in us a process by which we will eventually become fully reflective of the image of God in Christ Jesus.  Everything He allows to happen to us from that point forward is aimed at that goal.  They are aimed at growing in us the character of Christ.  They are designed to prune out the dead branches in us in order to make room for the new, live, fruitful branches He has set to growing. Read the rest…