The fruit of the Spirit is not a fruit that we eat, it's a fruit that grows inside of us! When we follow Jesus, the Holy Spirit comes to live in us to make us more like him. This means that we start growing the fruit of the Spirit - fruit like patience, kindness and goodness, - which is the good fruit that God wants us to have in our lives. This fruit shows that we love God, and it helps us to show his love to others. Let's check out one of the fruits of the Spirit now!
GOODNESS
When we have the fruit of goodness, we want to be good rather than behaving badly. The Bible tells us that nobody is good all the time except for God. Adults and children all do wrong things sometimes, and God will forgive us if we are sorry. But when we follow Jesus, the Holy Spirit works in us to help us to want to behave in a way that pleases God. This will also please our parents and teachers too. (If any adult ever asks us to do something that we know is wrong we should always tell another adult about it). So let's check out a Bible story that will help us understand more about the fruit of goodness:
Jesus is the perfect example of the fruit of goodness as he was perfectly good all the time! He pleased God in everything he did and he helped people because he loved them. Jesus made sick people better, brought dead people back to life and fed people who were hungry. When he was tempted to do wrong things, Jesus never did them. Jesus was good all of the time.
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Do you enjoy being good?
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Why is it hard to be good sometimes?
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How do you think your parents and teacher feel when you are good?
God wants us to be like Jesus. He wants us to try our very best to be good so that everyone will see that we love him. This isn’t easy but as we spend time praying to Jesus, and as we practice being good, the Holy Spirit will work to grow the fruit of goodness in us.
Dear Lord, Thank you that when I follow Jesus, the Holy Spirit works in me to grow lots of good fruit. Thank you that Jesus showed the fruit of goodness perfectly as he was good all the time. Please help me to be like Jesus and to do my best to be good so that everyone will know that I love you. Amen.
