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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 does bear fruit he prunes, that it may bear more fruit. (John 15.1, 2, ESV, emphasis mine)

I recently heard a sermon on abiding in Christ from John 15, and the quick, common explanation for “pruning” was that God frequently uses hardship or suffering to prune us. While he was talking, God seemed to remind me of other means for pruning that I’ve written about before: decluttering and digital minimalism.

The more stuff we have, the more time it takes to maintain it, and the less time there is for abiding in Christ. The more time we spend with our technology, the less time there is for abiding in Christ. God wants us to bear fruit, and he prunes for more fruit. We can cooperate with God’s pruning by being more intentional about what we buy and how we spend our time.

Skip Gray of The Navigators used to paraphrase Philippians 3.13 this way:

Paul said, “This one thing I do.” Not, “These 14 things I dabble in.”