Today’s Quotes from “The Passionate Church”
Posted by Chris
More from The Passionate Church:
We are to work from our rest, not rest from our work.
Growth is not the same thing as bearing fruit... Growth must happen before fruit is produced. And growth comes from knowing how to abide. (John 15)
Pruning is not the fun part of life. We seldom see churches displaying banners advertising "40 Days of Pruning," or small groups practicing "Pruning Yourself to a Better Life." But if a grapevine is not pruned regularly, the branches grow spindly and weak. There is no abiding time when they gain their strength for the growing season.
We need to have times of pruning in our churches, times when most, if not all, activity ceases. Times of rest and abiding.
Comments
My dad works with plants and I remember as a child watching him prune small trees. He would cut them back quite a bit and the homeowners would come out and say - “Oh my goodness...you have cut it too much...it looks like nothing” - and then my dad would answer..."Just wait...this tree needs to go through this so it can grow...when it is all said and done it will be bigger and fuller than it was before.
I have held on to that thought for many years...thanks for sharing this Chris...really good stuff.
Posted by Dustin Ahkuoi on May 15, 2008 at 11:18 PM