A Family Devotional Lesson on Luke 3:7-14

Big Idea: When we change our heart, we change our behavior. And just as you know that your heart has changed by your changed behavior, so you know a tree by its fruit.

Ice Breaker:  Have two drawings of trees ready for the devo. Ask your children to take turns drawing and coloring “bad apples” on the first tree. Discuss what kind of tree produces “bad apples.”  Now take turns drawing and coloring good apples on the second tree. Likewise discuss the attributes of good tree that produces good apples. How can a tree that produces bad apples begin to produce good apples (this may take some explaining from mom and dad)? How will you know when a bad apple tree has become a good apple tree? How can a boy or girl who produces bad behavior begin to produce good behavior? How do we know when someone has changed their heart?

Read the Text: Luke 15:7-14

Questions from the Passage:

• vv. 7-9…What does it mean to bear fruit that proves your repentance?
• When you repent, who will your brother/sister/mom/dad/teacher/friend know?
• Do you sometimes think that you’ve changed your heart - but your actions don’t show it? 
• In Israel, to say “we have Abraham as a father” is like us saying “we belong to a great church” today. But going to a great church isn’t the same thing as having a good heart. Did some of the “children of Abraham” have bad hearts? Can some of us have bad hearts even though we go to a great church? 
• vv. 10-14… How will each person change his mind and heart to produce the good fruit of: sharing clothes and food, honest tax collection, and stopping lies? 
• If John the Baptist were with us right now, and we each also asked him, “What should we do?” What would be the one thing that John would tell us to start doing and the one thing we should stop doing? How can we each make that change?
• Memorize Luke 15:8 to remember that behavior change begins first with a changed mind and heart.