by Liannu Khai

“For no good tree bears bad fruit, nor again does a bad tree bear good fruit, for each tree is known by its own fruit. For figs are not gathered from thornbushes, nor are grapes picked from a bramble bush. The good person out of the good treasure of his heart produces good, and the evil person out of his evil treasure produces evil, for out of the abundance of the heart his mouth speaks.” (Luke 6:43-45)

Every Sparklers class begins in one of two ways: 1) We go over the 4 Sparkler Rules or 2) We review our heart verses, Luke 6:43-45. If you are curious about our Sparkler rules, you can read Paul Chen’s article on those. Instead, I wanted to take a bit of time to talk about the Sparklers’ heart verses, what we go over, and how they shape disciplining moments.

The goal of reviewing these verses in the beginning of class is to help them reflect on their heart. We, first, typically read the verse together. Then, the teacher reviewing it will either concentrate on a certain part of the verse (e.g. What does the word “abundance” mean?) or will go over the verse more generally, breaking down the illustration.

In these verses, Jesus talks about two types of trees. We see a good tree and a bad tree. What do these trees represent? They represent our hearts. As there are two types of trees, there are two types of hearts – good, “God-way” hearts and bad, “my-way” hearts. The trees bear fruits according to what kind of tree they are. As apple trees only grow apples, good trees will only grow good fruits. God-way hearts will only produce good, God-pleasing fruit. What is “fruit” though and how do people bear it? People don’t exactly grow apples and oranges from their arms. No way! Instead, a person’s fruit comes in the form of our words, thoughts, and actions. The words that come out of our mouths, the attitudes and thoughts that stir in our minds, and the actions we perform are all rooted in our hearts. Our fruit reveals the type of heart we have. How do we know whether our fruit is good fruit or bad fruit? The Bible, God’s word, tells us exactly what is good and what is bad. It tells us what pleases the Lord and what displeases him. When we do anything that displeases God, we sin. We produce bad fruit and reveal our “my-way” hearts. However, left to our own power, we can never please and obey God (Rom. 3:12) because of our wicked hearts (Jer. 17:9). We need to ask God to help us obey him. Ultimately, we need to ask God to change our hearts.

These verses aid us when we need to discipline any of the Sparklers because our goal is to help them see how their actions compare with scripture. Rather than making superficial, behavioral changes, we hope for a change of heart by attempting to dig to the root of the issue. We ask them questions to help them understand their fruit, the heart behind it, and what God’s word says about it. This is definitely not easy. They are not always responsive, but I pray that God can use these disciplining moments to plant seeds in their life. Our greatest prayer, as Sparklers staff, is that the kids may see their sinfulness and their great need for Christ to save them. I pray that as they grow older, Luke 6:43-45 will be written on their hearts as they examine their fruits, their heart, and their standing before God. It has definitely been written on mine.