Tag Archives: Pruning

Daily Meditations

December 12 / Proverbs 12 / John 5

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Proverbs 12:5

The advice of the wicked will trick you.
 
We are bombarded with the world’s life-stealing advice everyday. It has to fought thru the filling of truth on a daily basis.
 
I was tricked for years, succumbing to the world’s advice of what has the highest value. I was deceived into thinking it was doing whatever pleased me most all the time. How silly it is to me after awakening to the truth & beauty of life in God’s presence.
 
Abundant Life.
 
God’s value system is so much deeper and more satisfying than anything the world has to offer. If only you experience it, truly experience the Presence & Love of Jesus, there is no going back.
Proverbs 12:11
 
Those who work their land will have plenty of food, but those who chase vain dreams will be empty handed.
 
Nothing great comes without great effort. You don’t get muscular by sitting around taking “Get Big Quick” pills.
Proverbs 12:16
 
Fool quickly show that they are upset, but the wise ignore insults.
 
The wise person always looks at what really matters in a conversation, wading quickly thru the distracting fear-driven BS, to see what is actually going on in the other person & therefore how to respond appropriately.
Proverbs 12:19
 
Principles last forever.
Techniques come & go.
Proverbs 12:24
 
Hard workers will become leaders, but those who are lazy will be put to forced labor.
John 5:6
 
“Do you want to get well?”

This seems so obvious and makes you wonder why Jesus even asks this seeming ridiculous question to a man who has been disabled for 38 years.

Perhaps there is a deep lesson for us here.

Is it always obvious that a person wants healing from something toxic in their life? Logic tells us we want to get well, yet how many of us stay in and with something that robs us of life because, quite frankly, we are afraid to let it go. It is, after all, a very part of our being. We have allowed it for so long and fostered it to become, at least in part, our very identity. But it is not who we are; seeing ourselves and each other thru the eyes of YHWH’s agape is to look straight thru to the immense value of the precious jewel that is at the core of every person, including yourself.

The pruning in John 15 is not a cutting away of distractions from the outside, but rather the removal of what inhibits our moving forward from the inside. The very wood of the branch must be trimmed away in order to let the sap flow freely from the vine all the way thru and result in greater growth. Some of us need more trimming than others. So what.

Do you really want to get well? Be free of addiction? Be free of needing to be well liked or thought of by everyone? Be free of beating yourself up all the time? What are you willing to commit to? What are you willing to allow God to prune in order to get to that place of freedom? What are you holding on to with your kung-fu grip and not willing to give up for God to heal you and fill you with His peace? [actions, habits, or thoughts]