约翰福音第十五章
【约十五1】「我父是栽培的人。」
临到我们的各种苦难，都是父神的使者，受父神的差遣，送礼物来给我们的。我们如果知道这个，就会得到安慰了。虽然，照属世的眼光看来，苦难似乎是伤害我们、毁灭我们的；但是照属灵的眼光看来，苦难却是产生祝福的。我们永不该忘记，救恩─世上最大的祝福─乃是世上最大痛苦的结果。所以每一次我们受到严厉的修剪，刀虽然割得深，痛苦虽然剧烈，但是一想到「我父是栽培的人」，立刻会得到说不尽的安慰。
文逊博士在一个挂满了葡萄的花房里讲说他的故事：「两年前，管理葡萄园的人告诉我说，这些葡萄藤若不一起割光，只留下藤茎的话，他对它们一点办法都没有了。我就让他去割，两年来我们一粒葡萄也吃不到，可是到了今年，竟长得这般丰满。」
让我们拿这个故事来解释基督徒受修剪的经过。修剪好象把葡萄藤剪坏了，割光了；但是祂所顾念的是将来，祂知道这样修剪的结果，会使葡萄的生命更丰盛，结的果子更多。
有许多祝福，若不出代价，是永远得不到的。─
密勒
The usual practice in viticulture,
the care of vines, is for the branches to be pruned back each year in order to
cleanse them. A vine produces certain shoots called “sucker shoots,”
which start to grow where a branch joins the stem. If allowed to continue to
grow, they would dissipate the life of the vine through so many braches that
the vine would produce little or no fruit and would produce mainly leaves
instead. Every vinedresser knows it is important to prune away these little sucker
shoots to ensure plentiful fruit. Since the shoots grow right where the branch
joins the stem, creating a tight cluster where dirt, leaves, and other debris
collect, the pruning is basically a cleansing process.
The Father’s work in our lives is to find a branch that is beginning to bear fruit,
beginning to produce the likeness of Christ, and then to cut it back. He trims
off the troublesome shoots, so that we may bear more fruit.
One year the peaches were
especially abundant. The fruit was big and juicy, and it was one of the best
crops in memory. While harvesting the crop, a picker noticed a limb that had
fallen from a tree. Its fruit was rotten and shriveled. Because the limb was
detached from the tree, it was no longer producing the good fruit that it
should. The same is true of the Christian who ceases to abide in Christ—he ceases to produce good fruit.
【约十五5】「我是真葡萄树，你们是枝子。」
与主联合是极宝贵的真理，这是事实，不是感觉。一个人娶了妻子以后，无论他是睡或醒，在家还是外游，他仍然是个有妇之夫。这个关系并不在乎人怎样看待这个事实，虽然人会意识到这关系的存在，或从中得到乐趣，但这些都不能改变二人结合这个事实。人若意识到与主联合的真谛，他就会渴求活在主里面。所以让我们不要翘首等待，四处寻觅，让我们凭信心接受主的话。基督不但在「我是真葡萄树」这句话里用现在时态，在「你们是枝子」中也一样。祂并没叫我们去寻找，去争取，只是叫我们依靠祂和现在我们与祂的关系。─《戴德生嘉言录》