Home Children's Ministry Leaders Articles for Children's Ministry Leaders Fruit of the Spirit Bible Lesson: Teaching Kids About God’s Love

Fruit of the Spirit Bible Lesson: Teaching Kids About God’s Love

Fruit of the Spirit Bible Lesson: Explore How to Love

Read 1 Corinthians 13:4-7, pausing after each sentence. Have kids share real-life examples of ways they can show love based on that description and then set up a domino.

Say: Imagine these dominoes are people. When we haven’t accepted God’s love, we’re just standing there with no love to pass on. But watch what happens when we receive God’s love.

Push the first domino over, and watch the chain fall.

Ask:

  • How do these dominoes remind you of what our verses talked about?

Say: Let me reread the verses about how God showed us love.

Read 1 John 4:9-10.

Say: God loved us and sent Jesus to die for us. When we truly get how much God loves us, we can’t help but pass it on! And the more we get to know God, the better we can show love. Check this out.

Read the first sentence of 1 John 4:17.

Say: Maybe you didn’t think our chain was perfect the first time, or you have a cool idea of how to set it up differently. For example, maybe you want to make it so one domino knocks down two and splits the path. Take some time to try different methods and get the perfect domino effect.

Allow time for kids to experiment with the dominoes.

Love Is a Fruit of the Spirit

Ask:

  • What helped you get the dominoes just right?
  • The Bible says as we live in God, our love grows more perfect. How is that different from just practicing love out of our own strength?

Say: Love is a fruit of the Spirit. That’s because the Bible says God is love! Every time you built a domino chain, the chain was a little different. But one thing never changed: Someone had to push over the first domino to start the chain falling. We’ll never be good at loving people unless we realize one important thing: Love comes from God.

Read 1 John 4:7.

Say: This part of the Bible was written in Greek. In Greek, there are a lot of different words for love. For example, there’s phileo (phil-EH-oh) love, which means brotherly or friendship-type love. It’s where we get the city name Philadelphia. There’s also eros (EE-ros) love, which is more romantic. And there’s storge (STORE-gay) love, which is a natural love you feel, like the way you feel about your parents.

Ask:

  • Tell about someone you love like a friend—phileo love.
  • Tell about why you storge love your parents.

Learn About Agape Love

Say: Those kinds of love are good. But there’s one word for love that’s different from any of those, and it’s the word that was used every time love was mentioned in the verses we read. It’s called agape (ah-GAH-pay) love. It means unconditional love. No matter what someone does, someone with agape love still loves them. Agape is a deeper kind of love, always wanting good for the person you love, giving to that person, and prizing that person.

And that’s how the Bible describes God’s love for us.

Ask:

  • Describe what God’s agape love might look like when a person passes it on.

Say: Agape love is a fruit of the Spirit. When we have God’s Spirit living in us, he’ll help us love fully, unconditionally, and with a giving heart like his.