# 056 11/13/00 The fruit in our children’s character

What a heavy responsibility parenting is! We are responsible, with God’s help, for developing the character of our children. We have powerful influence over who our children will become. We must decide if we want our children’s character to be centered around the “fruit of the Spirit” (Galatians 5:22) or the “fruit of the world.”

It is easy to teach worldly characteristics because they surround us. They are embraced by business, media, politics and the entertainment industry. We were probably taught some of those worldly traits when we were young.

Some of the character traits taught by the world can be expressed as follows: Money is the measure of success. A person has to look out for himself first. If it makes me feel good, that is justification for anything I want to do. If people get hurt on my way to the top, they just should have stayed out of my way. We should judge ourselves and others by physical appearance.

“But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control.” Galatians 5:22. These are the character traits that are Christ-like. These are the “fruits” that make a godly man or woman.

For many, it will be a difficult to decide which set of traits they want to teach their children. A hard-driving businessman may find it difficult to accept that kindness and goodness are better traits to teach a son than aggressiveness. A person who has worked hard to go from “rags to riches” may find it unthinkable to say that peace is more important than money.

As parents, we must decide which “fruits” we want to teach our children. If we choose the “fruits of the Spirit,” it will require constant prayer and dedication on our part. We know that if we relax our efforts for just a moment, the world will quickly step in to teach its “fruits.”