The Great Pumpkin
My neighbor raises these giant pumpkins. I don’t know how much this one weighs but it is huge and he told me it gains some ridiculous amount every night. He shades it with the cover so it won’t sunburn and waters it specially with a drip line. One of things he does at some point in this process is to cut the other pumpkins and blossoms off so that all the energy of the entire plant and the vine goes to this one pumpkin. The other blooms and blossoms go to the compost heap but the vine remains and this one pumpkins get bigger and bigger. Whatever he does it is working. He will need a front loading Bobcat to get it out of his garden.
Jesus said in John 15 –
15 “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[a] so that it will be even more fruitful. 3 You are already clean because of the word I have spoken to you. 4 Remain in me, as I also 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 you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing. 6 If you do not remain in me, you are 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 done for you. 8 This is to my Father’s glory, that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be my disciples.
Luther said about John 15:4
“He who wants to be saved and go to heaven when he dies must think and say: ‘Have mercy on me, gracious God. I am a poor, sinful being who has merited nothing but wrath. But whether my life was good or evil, I know that I need not doubt that I was baptized and named a Christian for the remission of sins; that Christ my Lord was born, suffered, died, and was raised from the dead for me; that He gave me His holy body and blood as food for the strengthening of my faith; and that I have been absolved and relieved of my sin in the name and by the power of Christ.’ Such a heart and such a faith cannot fare adversely or be lost any more than God’s Word can fail or be false. This I can guarantee you, since God Himself guarantees it to you through His Word” (Luther’s Works, Vol 24, p.222).
Like that pumpkin we need to keep the connection with the vine. We need to let God prune though. We need to try and add more to the vine.
