Homegrown: Cultivating Kids in the Fruit of the Spiritናሙና

 We Must Be Spiritually Connected 

If you worry you don’t have what it takes to cultivate your kids in the fruit of the Spirit, you’re in good company. The only way any parent can do this is by remaining in Jesus and being spiritually connected. Apart from Him, you can do nothing. Consider what Jesus said: “Truly I tell you, unless a grain of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains by itself. But if it dies, it produces much fruit” (John 12:24).

To grow in the fruit of the Spirit means we crucify our flesh and surrender our lives to Jesus Christ. From that moment of salvation, “the Spirit of God lives in you” (1 Cor. 3:16). But what does that mean for our kids, especially if they developmentally aren’t yet able to understand what it means to receive Jesus as their Savior and Lord? We believe kids understand more than we think. The environment we establish in our homes is critical for the seed of salvation to give birth to life in our kids. We want our homes to be permeated with the gospel. 

Let’s consider the moment Jesus rebuked the disciples when parents were taking their children to Jesus. “People were bringing little children to him in order that he might touch them, but the disciples rebuked them. When Jesus saw it, he was indignant and said to them, ‘Let the little children come to me. Don’t stop them, because the kingdom of God belongs to such as these. Truly I tell you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God like a little child will never enter it.’ After taking them in his arms, he laid his hands on them and blessed them” (Mark 10:13-16).

Notice “the kingdom of God belongs to such as these” and “whoever does not receive the kingdom of God like a little child will never enter it.” In other words, we must come to the gospel with a childlike faith. 

Our kids are the perfect examples for us to learn how to trust Him!

Consider the soil (or the spiritual and emotional climate) of your home. Is it such that when your children hear the Word, they understand it experientially because they see it lived out as part of an everyday conversation?