Let Go of Your Past: Dropping Your Hindrances, Being Transformed, and Standing Strongનમૂનો

Pruning with a Promise

Yesterday, I talked about how I showed the Apollo 11 video to our ministry team. When the video ended, I shouted abruptly, “What are the ‘boosters’ of our lives that were so important to our success but have lost their purpose in the light of this new epoch metamorphosis?” A passionate dialogue ensued among the team members as each person offered their insights into which areas, once so full of life and love, had now become fruitless efforts of religion.

Laying Aside Encumbrances

The writer of the book of Hebrews captured this concept when he exhorted us to become race-ready. He wrote, “Therefore, since we have so great a cloud of witnesses surrounding us, let us also lay aside every encumbrance and the sin which so easily entangles us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us” (Hebrews 12:1). The Greek word translated as “encumbrance” is ogkos, which can mean “bulk,” “mass,” or “weight.” I’ve always understood that sin derails us from running a good race by entangling us in guilt and undermining our noble identity. But encumbrances? I mean, are there things that entangle us that aren’t sin but are equally inhibiting our purpose? “What might those be?” I wondered.

The truth is, it takes great courage to leave the illusion of our success when our boosters have obviously run out of fuel. People waste a lot of effort and resources trying to sustain something that only weighs them down. There is no shame in letting go of something that was once fruitful but is now just a fruitless vine. We often blame others and thus rotate through an endless carousel of fruitless fixes and never solve the problem. This cycle can go on for years as we brand and then abandon each new fix. Of course, not all our failures are caused by boosters that have simply run out of gas. Many of us fail because of poor character, bad attitudes, and/or a lack of effort. Some people become disillusioned and stop seeking God, or they fail to move in spiritual power or to sincerely love others.

Growing Sticks

Jesus shared a parable that is insightful for unearthing the encumbrance dynamic that limits our productivity and undermines our purpose. He told the story of a vineyard, explaining it like this: “I am the true vine, and My Father is the vinedresser. Every branch in Me that does not bear fruit, He takes away; and every branch that bears fruit, He prunes it so that it may bear more fruit” (John 15:1–2). He went on to clarify that we (believers) are the branches that are being pruned back or cut off.

My Uncle Sally owned a small vineyard when I was a teenager, and I used to work on his farm during the summer. I learned a little bit about vines and vinedressers in those days. A vine, left unattended, will spend all its energy extending its branches until it literally has no energy left to produce leaves, much less fruit. If you discover an unattended branch twenty feet long, for example, the first five feet of the branch will likely have grapes on it, the next three feet will have only leaves, and the last twelve feet will be just a long stick. In other words, a grapevine becomes a stick tree if it gets overextended! If you don’t prune the branch all the way back to its fruitfulness, the vine’s capacity to produce fruit will be siphoned off by the energy it takes to grow sticks.

I want to assure you that no farmer prunes in order to produce less fruit! Farmers prune with a promise in mind, the promise of an exponential harvest. Metaphorically speaking, pruning back the encumbrances of our lives or cutting off branches that were once fruitful but have become unproductive, life-sucking, nourishment-stealing sticks of irrelevance can be painful. Yet, left unchecked, they will siphon off the life flow of our entire vine, leaving us useless, weak, and feeble. I am concerned that we have canonized the “boosters” of our former fruitful seasons and continue to hold fast to certain methods and modes as if they are sacred or holy. The truth is that many of these methods and modes are actually empty containers of powerless obligation, which we drag along behind us like a ball and chain in a lifeless journey of exasperation and frustration.

In tomorrow’s devotion, we will look at five questions that can help us to release the “boosters” or hindrances of our lives so we can ascend to the stratosphere of heavenly living.

Thought: There is no shame in letting go of something that was once fruitful but is now just a fruitless vine.

Prayer: Lord, please show me what “sticks” I have been growing in my life when I thought I was producing something fruitful. Thank You for pruning me with the promise of an exponential harvest for You.