Matthew 7:1 NIV84 and John 15:1 NIV84

From Matthew 7:

15 “Watch out for false prophets. They come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly they are ferocious wolves.16 By their fruit you will recognize them. Do people pick grapes from thornbushes, or figs from thistles?17 Likewise every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit.18 A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, and a bad tree cannot bear good fruit.19 Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.

20 Thus, by their fruit you will recognize them.

Reading this portion earlier it occurred to me that some trees don't bear fruit at all. Some that do bear fruit bear that which is poor quality and have not been tended properly to give a good yield.

John 15:

1 “I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener.2 He cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit, while every branch that does bear fruit he prunes so that it will be even more fruitful.3 You are already clean because of the word I have spoken to you.

Logic for a decent gardener or farmer would follow these directions. Having some experience working in grapes follow this plan every year without fail or the farmer would soon be producing a lousy crop and would not be able to earn as much money with his grapes than another farmer would get. The goal is to be able to live off the crop so it makes sense to follow the directions and prune the grapes and remove the foul branches and possibly even burn them.

Continuing in John 15:

4 Remain in me, and I will remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me.
5 “I am the vine; you are the branches. If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing.6 If anyone does not remain in me, he is like a branch that is thrown away and withers; such branches are picked up, thrown into the fire and burned.7 If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be given you.

The grapes have to be almost constantly be tended. The cold season does not give you much of a break as much of the pruning takes place during the winter. That would be followed by training the vines on the wires or if you are using a different of growing the grapes you might get away with that type of attention at times but the grapes still need a watchman at least. Did I say burn the trashed vines? They are definitely not going to give us any crop at all and they are worth nothing but trash.

And if taking a good look at the best crop you will see the the vines that are showing really premium grapes they are growing from very good stock and the trunk is likely many, many years old. That trunk will stay there and after many times of pruning and tending, it will continue to allow the best vines to grow from it.

Yes, I have thought so much about a significant other who did not show much fruit of the type that a believer would expect. The fruit of the spirit didn't show up and the fruit that there was was basically rotten and foul. The most difficult step is to prune and discard the rotten branches and rotten foul fruit. I discovered that I am still firmly attached to the vine and the vine is in me and I will continue to bear fruit that is desirable.