Image (c) depositphotos.com/ julos
Would you know a police officer when you saw one? What would be some good clues that a person is a police officer?
- How he or she is dressed?
- His or her badge?
- If he or she robbed banks?
- His or her car?
- If he or she helps people?
People often want to know if someone is a Christian. It’s not always easy to tell, is it? True Christ-followers still mess up and people who don’t believe in God at all can be very nice people.
“People judge by what is on the outside, but the Lord looks at the heart.”
1 Samuel 16:7 (ERV)
We can’t know for sure if someone is a true Christ-follower. You can be a good person without following Christ. You can also be a Christ-follower who is either going through a really hard time (James 1:2-4) or a new Christian with lots for the Holy Spirit to work on in your life. Still, there are some good clues that a person has given their life to Christ. These clues are called “bearing fruit.”
“Show that you are my followers by producing much fruit. This will bring honor to my Father.”
John 15:8 (ERV)
What are some ways other people might know we are followers of Christ? How does God want us to live for Him? Is it always easy to do? Why or why not? Living for God and letting the Holy Spirit work through us gets easier with practice.
“I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing.”
John 15:5 (ESV)
We abide in Jesus Christ by loving God every day with our whole heart, reading the Bible, praying, going to church, and telling other people about Jesus.
We can guess whether other people are real Christ-followers or not, but the real question is: are you? The first step is a relationship with Jesus Christ. (Learn more about that in this video.) The second step is to abide in Christ and bear fruit.
FAMILY CHALLENGE: Choose one fruit of the spirit to practice this week. Here are a few to get you started:
“But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law.”
Galatians 6:22-23 (NASB) Read the context here in Galatians 5:16-26.
Make a sticker chart to mark each time you catch a family member doing it.
