Fruitful Children of the Light

Read It: Ephesians 5:8-14 (NRSV)

 8 For once you were darkness, but now in the Lord you are light. Live as children of light— 9 for the fruit of the light is found in all that is good and right and true. 10 Try to find out what is pleasing to the Lord. 11 Take no part in the unfruitful works of darkness, but instead expose them. 12 For it is shameful even to mention what such people do secretly; 13 but everything exposed by the light becomes visible, 14 for everything that becomes visible is light. Therefore it says, 

    “Sleeper, awake! 

    Rise from the dead, 

    and Christ will shine on you.” 

Learn It:

It's great when people talk about faith in terms of fruit, isn't it?  There are such great images of fruit that come to mind.  It is sweet and tastes good; it's good for you.  We also have an example of what fruit can mean too if we look at Philippians 1:9-11.  Here we learn that the fruit that is talked about here might be righteousness which is associated with goodness and truth.  So we are supposed to be good, righteous, fruitful children of the light.  Part of being in the light is doing what we think God would want us to do.  Sometimes that old phrase WWJD (what would Jesus do) comes in handy.  When we think in those terms we think about doing what would put us in the light of Christ and would put that situation in that light as well.  I like to call this an ethic of love - doing what is the most loving, which would then make us and the situation fruitful.  And by making the situation fruitful we are doing what is pleasing to God.

Share It:

Have everyone sit together and bring a piece of fruit with them from the kitchen.  What are some characteristics of the fruit?  What makes it so desirable?  What is the best part of the fruit?  Now think about if any of those items you listed can be said about God.  If you get some characteristics or not come up with some things that you think are Godly characteristics and add them to your list.  What kinds of choices would you have to make to live as a child of the light?  Share together.

Live It:

Well our text says that we should live as children of the light.  Think about ways that you can be fruitful and live as a child of the light.  When you find yourself in a situation why not ask yourself WWJD?  Also think about an ethic of love...what would be the most loving thing to do in this situation?  Share with your family what you find out about using these ideas as ways to handle different situations.  Live as a fruitful child of the light!

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Please post comments with your experience with the share it or live it part of this weeks post.  Let others know if you and your family found this useful.