There is an ancient story of the Middle East which tells of three merchants crossing the desert. They were traveling at night in the darkness to avoid the heat of the day. As they were crossing over a dry creek bed, a loud attention-demanding voice out of the darkness commanded them to stop.They were then ordered to get down off their camels, stoop down and pick up pebbles from the creek bed, and put them into their pockets.
Immediately after doing as they had been commanded, they were then told to leave that place and continue until dawn before they stopped to set up camp.This mysterious voice told them that in the morning they would be both sad and happy. Understandably shaken, they obeyed the voice and traveled on through the rest of the night without stopping. When morning dawned, these three merchants anxiously looked into their pockets. Instead of finding the pebbles as expected, they found precious jewels! And , they were both happy and sad. Happy that they had picked up some of the pebbles,but sad because they hadn't gathered more when they had the opportunity.
This fable expresses how many of us feel about the treasures of God's Word. There is coming a day when we will be thrilled because we had absorbed as much as we have, but sad because we had not gleaned much more. Jewels are best shown of when held up to a bright light and slowly turned so that each polished facet can catch and reflect the light.
Each of these nine jewels of character will be examined in the light of God's Word and how best to allow them to be developed in our children's life. That is how I feel about the following following three verses from Paul's writings which challenges us with what their Christian character or personality should look like. Jesus Christ has boiled down a Christian's responsibility to two succinct commands: Love the Lord your God with all your heart, mind, soul, and body, and love your neighbor like yourself. Likewise, Paul the apostle has captured for us the Christian personality in Nine traits:
But the Fruit of the Spirit is Love, Joy, Peace, Patience, Kindness, Goodness, Faithfulness, Gentleness, and Self-control. Against such things there is no law. Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the sinful nature with its passions and desires. Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit. ( Galatians 5:22-25).
At the very beginning of this study, I must point out a subtle,yet obvious, distinction. The "Fruit" of the Spirit is a composite description of what the Christian Lifestyle and Character traits are all about - an unbroken whole. We can't pick only the Fruit we like.
Unlocked in this Developing Christian Character in our Children Series are the riches of a Christ- Centered Personality.....The trill of the search is ahead of us.........
Developing Christian Character in our Children : Spirit of Love
Many people talk about the things they think they love. A little boy might say he loves his new
video game. A little girl might say she loves her new doll house. A grown man might say he
loves his car or a grown woman might say she loves her new hairdo. But is all of this really love?
Can a person really love things?
Let's take a moment to think about love.... What is love? ... How can we show love? ...
(Let some of the children share their ideas.)
Love means caring for another person as much as you care for yourself. Love means to treat
another person the way you want to be treated. We show our love through our actions.
If you would not want to be hurt, or pinched, or kicked, or teased, or bullied, then you
should never do those things to someone else. On the other hand, if you would like to be
treated kindly, then you should be kind to others.
The Bible, in 1 Corinthians 13, tells us how we show our love:
- By being patient. This means waiting a long time without whining or complaining.
- By being kind, even when someone is not kind to you.
- By not being envious. That means being happy when good things happen to someone else and not being upset that it didn't happen to you.
- By being well behaved.
- By sharing and not being selfish.
- By staying calm and not being quick to become angry.
- By telling the truth.
The Bible also tell us that:
Love never ends.
Love lasts forever.
Now let's take another look at the things people think they love. The little boy will
eventually become bored with playing the same video game over and over. It will be left on
the shelf and forgotten. Is that really love?
The little girl will get older and find new interests, and stop playing with the doll house. Is that really love?
Even adults don't always know what love is. The car will someday break down, and the man will have to dispose of it and get a new one. The woman's hair will grow, she will not like it and will get a new hairstyle. All of these things are only with us for a little while.
We cannot and should not love things, because they come to an end and then love would have to end. But real love never ends.
We should teach our children to love their friends, love people no matter their colors and racial identities. We should teach our children to love everyone no matter their statutes in life.
We should teach our children to love by modelling love to them. When our children see us loving our neighbors, they will love them too. If our children see us loving our spouses, they will intend love their spouses tomorrow. Modelling is a powerful tool that every parent has in their hands to shape the destinies of their children's lives. Always remember real love never ends. We should love people and we should love God so that
our love will last forever
THINK!
What is Love?
Can we really love things?
Which Fruit of the Spirit did you learn about today?
Remember:
Jesus loves you and love last forever.
