Fruits of the Spirit
I am convicted often of what I teach my children when I am NOT thinking about teaching them. You know, the stuff they really pay attention to. Deuteronomy 6:5-8 teaches:
“Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength. These commandments that I give you today are to be upon your hearts. Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. Tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads.”
How can we do that? Well, the Jews literally bound God’s words on their foreheads in small boxes called Phylacteries. I think a better way for teaching our children is something they all respond quite readily to; our praise. How about praising our children when they show an act of one of the Fruits of the Spirit, like Love, Joy, Peace, Patience, Kindness, Goodness, Gentleness, Faithfulness, and Self-Control? This is not easily done, either. It’s an intentional effort on our part. Why is that, anyway? Maybe, if I stick an 8 ½” x 11” sheet of paper up somewhere prominent in the house for each of the nine Fruits of the Spirit, would it help me remember?
Often, I find myself praising my children more highly for a beautiful picture they drew, than when they showed incredible Self-Control and Patience when their baby sister destroyed a Lincoln Log village they worked so hard on. Or, excitedly exclaiming over a school project they got good grades on, but not when they showed Kindness to their sibling whom they more often argue and bicker with. How about when we praise our son for doing so well in sports, but when he shows uncharacteristic Kindness to a classmate in school, our praise is dismal in comparison? It is such a challenge for our sinful natures to think outside of what “man” sees as important!
As a result, I find them working their hardest to achieve and master the things they are MOST praised for, knowing I had a huge hand in that. It’s not as if we intentionally do this. It is not premeditated. However, it is showing our children what really matters, what will get them the most praise and attention from us. And guess what? That’s exactly what they will put their heart and soul into: Sports, Education, Talents, etc. Why don’t we all challenge ourselves this Season to show our children that Fruits of the Spirit of Christ are far more receiving of praise than anything else? What better way to love the Lord with all our heart, soul, and strength than teaching our children what really matters in this life- Christ and bearing His fruit.



