The Fruit of the Spirit in Our Kids
Bible Verse
18 So our faces are not covered. They show the bright glory of the Lord, as the Lord's Spirit makes us more and more like our glorious Lord. 2 Corinthians 3:18
In Galatians 5, Paul recites a list of sins, showing a broken world that has lost its way. Then he lists what’s called in many Bible translations the fruit of the Spirit. He’s not listing a bunch of emotions, but tools that help us live in a confusing and hard world.
The fruit of the Spirit is more than good habits or nice character traits. It shows that Christ is alive and working in us. The fruit of the Spirit is the character of Jesus growing inside his followers so that people can see what God is like.
The new year is an opportunity to be more intentional about pulling out “bad fruit,” as Jesus describes it in Luke 6:43-45, and growing good fruit in our lives and our children’s.
We invite you and your family to dive into the Kids Corner “Fruit of the Spirit” series starting this week. The series will have devotions about God’s love, memory verses about God’s peace, and service project suggestions that show kindness in the community.
Children can easily picture a good tree producing good fruit. They understand when Jesus says, “You cannot pick figs or grapes from thornbushes.” When we give our children chances to follow Jesus’ example, they learn who he is and who he has made them to be. As Christie Thomas states in the book Fruit Full, “The fruit of the Spirit is evidence of a soul that is growing in Christ. We are like plants, and to grow good fruit, we need to be rooted in God’s love for us.” Growing good fruit takes effort and practice. But when our hearts are open, God’s Spirit can change us from the inside out.
Paul writes in 2 Corinthians 3:18, “So our faces are not covered. They show the bright glory of the Lord, as the Lord's Spirit makes us more and more like our glorious Lord.”
As parents, we hope to see the Spirit’s fruit in our children’s hearts and lives. Sometimes the fruit does not come naturally or grow on its own. It is a work of God. Teaching our young ones why we want to be more like Christ is essential. Just as we grow taller each year, we can grow in God’s ways too. This transformative growth requires that we pray and invite the Holy Spirit to work in their lives, to take root and go deep.
This new year, let’s focus on internal growth that lasts an eternity.
Holly Sperling
Holly Sperling teaches grade 2 at Edmonton Christian School in Edmonton, Alberta. She loves journeying with children and their families to discover God’s redemptive love and role in His story. Holly and her husband, Burke have a blended family of five, enjoying being grandparents and are attempting to train their very active Pyrenees Poodle.
