May 19

He cuts off every branch in Me that bears no fruit, and every branch that does bear fruit, He prunes to make it even more fruitful. — John 15:2 BSB

Recently, we walked past a garden where the gardener had just finished pruning. The plants bore the wounds of the knife and saw, but the warm April sun was nourishing them, and new life was beginning to emerge.

As we looked at the plant, we thought how cruel it would be to cut it again the following week. Now, the gardener’s job is to nurture the plant into life. Its task is no longer to die, but to live.

So it is with the discipline of the soul. It, too, has its dying hour, but it must not always be dying. Instead, we are to "reckon ourselves dead to sin but alive to God through Jesus Christ our Lord." Death is but a moment. Live, then, children of the resurrection, on His glorious life more abundantly. The fullness of your life will drive out self and sin, overcoming evil with good, and your existence will no longer be one of repression, but of Christ’s spontaneous, overcoming, everlasting life.