Lesson 9

The greatest gift we can receive and emulate from God is love. The Bible tells us God is love. The more we express his love to those around us, the more like him we will become. There are many ways of showing love to others. Knowing love cannot survive without truth and there is no truth without love, God instructed the Isrealites to demonstrate his love by keeping the ninth commandment. God is not a respecter of  any person so he expanded on the ninth command and included unbiased equity. With our salvation made possible through Jesus, we are able to receive God’s spirit. Having the spirit within them, Christians know that when they show love to others they are living in union with God. Can we reject the words of God and remain in union with him? What will it cost Christians that do not live in truth and love? Why is what you do, believe, and tell others important? How do you describe what God is like?

Exodus 20:16 Easy-to-Read Version
16 “You must not tell lies about other people.

Romans 2:11 King James Version
11 For there is no respect of persons with God.

Exodus 23:1-3 International Children’s Bible
23 “You must not tell lies. You might be a witness in court. Don’t help a bad person by telling lies. 2 “You must not do wrong just because everyone else is doing it. You might be a witness in court. Then you must not ruin a fair trial. You must not tell lies just because everyone else is. 3 A poor man might be in court. You must not take his side just because he is poor.

1 John 4:7-16 Good News Translation
7 Dear friends, let us love one another, because love comes from God. Whoever loves is a child of God and knows God. 8 Whoever does not love does not know God, for God is love. 9 And God showed his love for us by sending his only Son into the world, so that we might have life through him. 10 This is what love is: it is not that we have loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the means by which our sins are forgiven. 11 Dear friends, if this is how God loved us, then we should love one another. 12 No one has ever seen God, but if we love one another, God lives in union with us, and his love is made perfect in us. 13 We are sure that we live in union with God and that he lives in union with us, because he has given us his Spirit. 14 And we have seen and tell others that the Father sent his Son to be the Savior of the world. 15 If we declare that Jesus is the Son of God, we live in union with God and God lives in union with us. 16 And we ourselves know and believe the love which God has for us. God is love, and those who live in love live in union with God and God lives in union with them.