Wouldn’t it be fulfilling to know that you’re making a lasting impact on the world and living a life of purpose? One powerful way to achieve this is through serving God by serving others. When we selflessly give others what our creator has given us, we make a difference in their lives and experience personal growth and fulfillment. No one knows this better than Tea Pot. Tea Pot is a character in the children’s picture book called The Tea Pot. This article will explore the valuable lessons hidden within its pages and how we can make the most of our lives by serving God and others.

Serving others allows us to demonstrate compassion and the fruit of the Spirit that God wants us to embody. The Fruit of the Spirit refers to nine qualities: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. Whether it’s volunteering at a local charity, lending a helping hand to a friend or neighbor, or using our skills to contribute to a community project, every act of service has the potential to transform lives, beginning with our own. Let’s discover how to significantly impact the world and live a life that truly matters by serving God through serving others.

The fruit of the Spirit serves God by serving others.

We’ve been studying the roots beneath the fruit of the Spirit. We look to the characters in a series of children’s picture books to help us understand how the fruit of the Spirit grows. First, we meet a vessel named Little Pot. The Little Pot wonders why the potter created it. After being given different things to hold, it discovers the potter wants to grow fruit through it. Likewise, we are vessels where our creator desires to produce His fruit through us. The qualities of Little Pot’s Humus, seed, stem, leaves, and flowers lead to strawberries. Comparatively, God cultivates the fruit of the Spirit through humility, God’s Word, integrity, relationships, and knowledge. You can receive details about that process by signing up here:

Tea Pot and Little Pot learn to serve

In the second book, Little Pot meets a teapot. Tea Pot and Little Pot must learn that the fruit and tea produced through them are for serving others. Unsurprisingly, Tea Pot enjoys the tea inside it. The sweet smell and beautiful brown liquid make the vessel feel full and content. However, the potter pours the tea into small cups that do not withstand the heat required to brew the tea. Serving is something other than what the teapot wants to do. Likewise, it convinces the Little Pot not to share its fruit.

Consequently, the tea turns stale, and the fruit rots. Their selfish actions require the potter to wash Tea Pot and prune Little Pot. The same things happen when we refuse to give away the things our creator gives us. God will wash us clean and prune away our pride. Serving God requires us to serve others.

Serving God by giving to others

When we realize that what we have is temporary and belongs to God anyway, it is easy to give it to others. Tea Pot and Little Pot did not benefit from keeping their tea and fruit. It did not provide them the satisfaction and joy others gained from receiving it. In fact, not giving away what they had kept the vessels from being used by the potter more.

The same is true for us. We must realize the gifts, talents, and skills God gives us are for serving others. Keeping these things ourselves destroys them and makes them useless. Learning to let go of them is how we can make the most of our lives. It begins with loving our neighbors.

Who is your neighbor?

In Luke 10:25-37, an expert in the law asks Jesus who his neighbor is. The law states that we are to love the Lord with all our heart, soul, and mind and love our neighbor as ourselves. Trying to look smart, he then questions Jesus, whom “our neighbor” refers to. Jesus tells a story to answer the question, and its meaning shocks His listeners.

The story is known as The Good Samaritan. A man is robbed, beaten, and left to die along the road. A priest and Levite pass him without offering to help. Eventually, a Samaritan comes by. He stops, bandages his wounds, and takes him to an inn where he pays for him to get the care he needs. Samaritans were despised by the audience listening to this story. Therefore, when Jesus finished telling it with the question, “Which of the three men was a neighbor to the man?” the crowd must have been uncomfortable.

Who are you a neighbor to?

The expert in the law asked Jesus who his neighbor was. However, the right question is, Who am I a neighbor to? The answer is the person we have compassion for and are willing to give the things God has given us. If Tea Pot cared for the cups, it would have wanted to pour into them. Likewise, we must have compassion and pour all God has given us into those around us.

Serving God by serving others

Little Pot and Tea Pot have learned to serve the potter by serving others, as the third book shows. The Oil Lamp is a story about a small vessel that is too shy and scared to shine the potter’s light. The oil lamp becomes brave through Little Pot’s and Tea Pot’s compassion.

Our compassion for others grows as we produce the fruit of the Spirit. This is illustrated in the latest picture book, Burnout Fit In. In this story, the oil lamp faces burnout. It cannot shine without the potter replenishing its oil. Oil is a symbol of the Holy Spirit. It fuels the light of the oil lamp. Likewise, the Holy Spirit is the fuel we need to grow compassion and the fruit of the Spirit.

Just like Little Pot, Tea Pot, and Oil Lamp, we need to become vessels our potter uses. Add your first name and email below, and we’ll send you the seven steps to the Holy Spirit growing fruit through your life. Additionally, you will receive a Fruitful Friday email each week to continue to … “Learn a lot from Little Pot!”

The Rooted Bible Study

This article is a part of a Bible study called Rooted. The root system inside Little Pot is intertwined and hard to break. Consequently, we’ve been digging it up to answer complex questions about God and life. Here is a list of the questions we are investigating. Feel free to click on the different questions to learn more. A workbook is available for further study.

• Who is God?
• How do I Know When God Speaks to me?
• Where is God When it Hurts?
• Who is the enemy, and How to fight with spiritual warfare weapons?
• How will my life have a positive impact?
• Serving God by serving others: How can I make the most of my life?
• What about money?
• How and why should I tell others?
• Is church important?

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