Fruit of the Spirit: Faithfulness

This week we continued teaching the kids about the Fruit of the Spirit from Galatians 5:22-23, focusing on faithfulness. Faithfulness means to be unchanging; God is faithful to his promises, because he is unchanging in His nature and character. Our reactions to life circumstances do not change God, He continues to faithfully work in our lives regardless of whether we respond rightly or not. As fallen people we are naturally unfaithful, we change and adapt to situations always looking to protect our best interest, but as redeemed children of God we can become faithful as we seek to glorify him regardless of the consequences. The fruit of faithfulness will reveal itself differently depending on the stage of life you are in, for a parent it may mean that you grow in your ability to respond in love despite continued opposition and for a kid it can mean standing up for what is right even if it means painful social consequences, but regardless of where we are in life, as we grow in our relationship with Christ we will grow in our ability to respond faithfully to difficult circumstances.

Lesson: Remember that we have been talking about the fruit of the spirit, which are words that describes people who have the Holy Spirit. Galatians 5:22-23 says, “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law.” So this week we are going to talk a little about faithfulness.

 Faithfulness means to be unchanging. God is the only one who is truly unchanging; He is the same today as He will be tomorrow. He never breaks His promises, which is a comfort to those who love him and have repented of their sin and trust in Jesus, but it ought to frighten all who refuse to turn from their sin despite the strong warnings found in scripture. As we grow in our relationship with Christ we will become more in more faithful, that is we will be able to live our lives in obedience regardless of the outcome.

 Daniel was faithful; he was taken from his family around age thirteen as a captive of Babylon. He loved God, and knew Gods laws; knowing that if he ate the kings food he would be sinning against God, Daniel asked the guards if he would be allowed to eat only vegetables and water. The guard could have killed Daniel just for making the request; however, Daniel cared more about God’s honor than his own life, he was faithful, unchanged, even when his life was put in danger. God gave Daniel favor with the guard, and he and his friends were allowed to eat only the vegetables and drink water.

 Daniel could have been changed by his situation; he was a very young man when he was taken from his family, but instead he was faithful. He is a wonderful example to us; he wasn’t faithful because he was so good, but because he had a strong relationship with God which produced the the fruit faithfulness in his life.

Review:

• What is the Fruit of the Spirit? (Things or words that describes people who have the Holy Spirit)
• What does it mean to be faithful? (To be unchanging)
• Who is the only person who is truly faithful? (God)
• Why is God faithful? (Because he never changes, he is the same today as He will be tomorrow)
• How can we become faithful? (Grow in our relationship with Jesus)
• Why was Daniel faithful? (Daniel didn’t let his life being in danger change him)

As always it is my hope that as you work with your children, laboring to teach them about spiritual things, that you will be impacted by the scripture. As I thought about the fruit of faithfulness, my heart was heavy.  I could not help by consider whether I am faithful or not, and was confronted with the hard reality that I am far from where I want to be in my walk with the Lord. Being faithful means turning from pure reaction to thoughtful action. Let me clarify what I mean, instead of reacting in anger or fear to a situation I must be motivated to act by a heart that deeply understands not only my own sin and need for forgiveness but by the character and nature of God. I know I fail at this so frequently, and I am so thankful that I serve a God who will forgive me and help me in my struggle. I cannot, on my own, make myself more faithful, instead I can participate in the sanctifying process by God’s grace turning from the sin that hinders the growth of spiritual fruit, and praying for Him to work in my heart that I may become more faithful.

When we find that we are not where we want to be with regards to fruitfulness we have two choices: we can either wallow in self-pity, which yields no change or we can go to God and ask for His help to see the sin that we need to turn from, to understand Him and His word, and then to produce good fruit in our lives that He MAY BE GLORIFIED!! Ephesians 4:22-24 says, “lay aside the old self, which is being corrupted in accordance with the lusts of deceit,  and that you be renewed in the spirit of your mind, and put on the new self, which in the likeness of God has been created in righteousness and holiness of the truth.” It’s important to remember if we seek to turn from sin and grow spiritually for any other reason than to see Him glorified we will find little success for God will not share his glory with another (Isaiah 42:8). We must do all for His glory alone!

I hope this has been helpful and encouraging as you labor to lead your children to the cross!

Paul Bitten by a Snake

This week we continued to teach the kids at our church about Paul’s journey to Rome, and the trouble that he encountered along the way. After Paul was shipwrecked, a venomous snake bit him; the islanders who saw what happened assumed that he must have been a criminal, and that god sent the snake to kill Paul as just punishment. However, Paul simply shook the snake off his hand into the fire and was unharmed. It is hard to say why exactly this account is in scripture, except it reveals to us God’s faithfulness. God said that Paul was to be his witness to Rome, if Paul died in route than he would not accomplish what God sent him to do. However, given all of the obstacles Paul faced it becomes apparent that the ONLY reason he made it to Rome was because of God’s work behind the sense. When God asks us to do something He is right there with us working to accomplish His goal, He does the hard work all we have to do is trust and obey! Accounts like this one help strengthen us by reminding us of this truth especially when things don’t look like they are going the way we would like!

Lesson: 

After every one made it safely to shore they discovered they were on a little island called Malta. The people on the island showed the shipwrecked men kindness; they gathered wood and made a fire so that the men could warm themselves. Paul helped gather wood to keep the fire going; as he threw some wood on the fire a snake came out of the wood and bit his arm. Paul shook the snake off into the fire. All the natives thought God must have been punishing Paul for some terrible crime he had committed, and they expected him to fall down dead at any moment. However, when Paul was unaffected by the venom the men then began to say Paul must be a god.

 Paul made quite a first impression on the people of Malta! While the Bible does not tell us in this account how Paul responded to the people saying he was a god, we know from other account that this did not please Paul. When others said similar things Paul responded by telling them about the One True God, the Creator of the heavens and the earth, and the way of salvation; I think it is safe to assume that is how he responded here.

 What we do know for sure is that God proved himself faithful. God told Paul that he must go to Rome and be a witness to the men there, telling them about Jesus and the way of salvation. God will never ask us to do something and then leave us to do it on our own. He is always with us, working behind the scene so that everything works out according to His plan. Paul faced many challenges on his way to Rome; he was shipped wrecked and bitten by a poisonous snake, but God was always with him and He is the one who kept Paul safe.

We should trust God because he is God, but he knows that is hard for us. He gave us His word to help us know just how trust worthy He is; we can obey and know He is the one who will do the hard work to get things done!

 I am continually amazed at how slow to catch on I am, it seems every account in scripture points to our need to trust God; yet I still find it instinctive to trust in my own judgment rather than God’s. I have to work at trusting God; I remind myself constantly that He knows better than I do, and that He does not have to run His plans by me before I accept them. I know my children have the same struggle, they often disobey because they don’t trust that I know better than they do.  I think this is why so much of the Bible points us to the importance of trusting God, because the flesh naturally trusts in itself rather than God. If you think back to the garden not trusting God is what got Adam and Eve (as well as the entire human race) in such trouble; they didn’t trust that God was looking our for their best interest, and so they took matters into their own hands. God never holds out on his children, He always provided what we need (what we actually need, not what we think we need).  As parents it’s important that our walks with God are consistent just like Paul’s was; our children watch us they believe what our actions tell them more than our words. In other words if we do not trust God, we cannot expect our children to either.

I am thankful that as I teach my children about God they are not the only ones who are changed, God has been very gracious to show me where I need to repent, especially of prideful self-reliance, and trust in Him. I pray that this is helpful as you labor to lead your children to the cross!