Fruit of the Spirit FAITHFULNESS: lesson plan and devotional

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The fruit of the Spirit FAITHFULNESS includes a Jesus-centered devotional you can use in a lesson, as well as a full “fruit of the Spirit: faithfulness” lesson plan with an object lesson, coloring page and other activities.

Faithfulness As Fruit of the Spirit (instead of as a virtue)

Think carefully about this Jesus whom we declare to be God’s messenger and High Priest. For he was faithful to God, who appointed him.

Hebrews 3:1–2 NIV

Have you ever seen a farm or garden where the plants were all growing in perfectly straight rows, or a lawn where the stripes were completely straight? It seems like magic (or at least math) must be involved, but there’s a simple trick to making perfectly straight rows.

Imagine you are driving a tractor or lawnmower. Look out into the distance, and find a tree that’s straight across from you. Then, without taking your eyes off the tree, drive. Never look down; always look at the point in the distance. If you look down, your rows will get wiggly because it’s impossible to drive straight while looking down. You also need to make sure you pick something that doesn’t move as your guide.

Can you imagine what would happen to your rows if you chose to look at a cow instead of a tree?

Driving a straight line on a tractor is kind of like living a life of faithfulness. Let me explain.

The author of Hebrews imagines that living our lives is like running a race. We want to do our very best, so we get rid of everything that slows us down, like sin. And we want to keep running without stopping.

Hebrews 12:2 says “we do this by keeping our eyes on Jesus, the champion who initiates and perfects our faith.”

Jesus is like that tree at the end of the field. When we keep our spiritual eyes on him, we can keep running the race faithfully, because he is faithful. He is like a steady tree to look at, not like a wandering cow. We can trust Jesus to be our steady, faithful guide because he was faithful himself.

But what is faithfulness anyway?

Faithfulness is about habits. Someone who is a faithful lover has a habit of loving well. A person who is faithful in joy has a habit of joy.

In fact, faithfulness combines all the other fruits of the Spirit. Jesus wasn’t sometimes loving, sometimes peaceful, and sometimes joyful. He had a habit of love, peace, and joy, which means he was faithful.

Jesus had a habit of spending time alone with his Father. He had a habit of healing others. He had a habit of seeing the potential in people. All of those things made him someone that the disciples could fix their eyes on and follow forever.

He’s still worth fixing our eyes on, and following forever.

A fruit of the Spirit: FAITHFULNESS lesson plan for children

Use this fruit of the Spirit:FAITHFULNESS lesson plan for Sunday School or at home!

INTRODUCTION:

SUPPLIES: Either a VHS tape, a DVD, and a Blu-Ray disk (Can’t find them? Use a tape, CD, and phone instead and modify the teaching accordingly.)

SAY: These are all different ways to watch a movie. 40 years ago, to watch a movie you had to use a VHS tape in a special VHS player. Then 30 years ago, people started watching movies on DVDs instead. 20 years ago, people started watching on Blu Ray disks. Now, you can watch a movie on any tablet, phone, or computer! Watching movies sure has changed, right? Lots of things change all around us, but guess who never changes? Jesus! Listen carefully to find out WHY it’s important that Jesus never changes.

2. The Fruit of the SpiritFAITHFULNESS Lesson:

Help children look up and read Hebrews 3:1-2, then share the above fruit of the Spirit (faithfulness) devotion.

After, ASK: What are some areas where you find it hard to be faithful? How can we fix our eyes on Jesus in our days (not just when we come to church)?

*Remind kids that faithfulness grows when we get closer to Jesus and discover his amazing faithfulness to us, not just by trying harder to be consistent.

3. PRAYER:

Thank you Jesus for being faithful, and for being a faithful guide that we can follow through life. You won’t ever let us down. Please give us the strength and desire to fix our eyes on you every day. Amen.

4. FRUIT OF THE SPIRITFAITHFULNESS ACTIVITIES:

Invite kids to draw a picture of themselves in the middle of the page. ASK: What is around you, trying to consume you? Let’s draw that too. Then, help children write Lamentations 3:22-23 underneath. For kids who can’t write, simply type the Scripture at the bottom of a document and print copies for each child.
Teach kids a breath prayer: As you breathe in, say “When I am faithless” and as you breathe out, say “you remain faithful.”
Read 2 Corinthians 1:21 to the kids. SAY: Close your eyes and imagine that someone is threatening to hurt you unless you stop following Jesus. Now imagine he is standing right beside you. How does he help you stand firm?
Have kids make up a song about God’s faithfulness.
Play a game of hide-and-seek. Afterward, ASK: can you ever hide from God? Will God hide from you?
*As you share these activities, be sure to keep the conversation on the fruit of the Spirit FAITHFULNESS gospel-based (meaning we emphasize God’s amazing faithfulness to us, rather than our efforts to be faithful).

Fruit of the Spirit Faithfulness Object Lesson

Enjoy this fruit of the Spirit Faithfulness object lesson idea from YouTube!

This video on God’s faithfulness will really shock your kids, because it uses a simple magic trick to illustrate the point. The leader also does a great job of emphasizing God’s faithfulness despite our faithlessness. To learn this trick for yourself, use this helpful video tutorial!