Part 3: Teaching Our Children About: The Love for Others | FUN Ways to Teach How to Love Others

Teaching Our Children About: The Love for Others

"But love your enemies, do good to them, and lend to them without expecting to get anything back. Then your reward will be great, and you will be children of the Most High, because he is kind to the ungrateful and wicked." Luke 6:35

FOR...

"Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends." John 15:13

BECAUSE...

"By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.” John 13:35

John 15:13 always intrigued me. I questioned, “Isn't loving your enemies greater than loving your friends.” After all, Matthew 5:46 ask “If you love those who love you, what reward will you get? Are not even the tax collectors doing that?” But then I considered the relationship between Christ and mankind. “... God demonstrates his own love for us in this: while we were still sinners, Christ died for us” says Romans 5:8. God was the constant friend and even though we rejected the loving relationship he desired with us all, he still called us friends. We were never hopeless to him.

In the same manner, as we teach our children to love others, we must teach them that the Christ-like love they must have for others, is not based on how others act, but on what God is doing in their little, but mighty hearts. They are to be the constant friend, showing Christ to others. Love for others is really an extension of God’s love for others.

As parents, we are entrusted with caring for God’s gifts, our children. They are to be molded in His character. Thus, they must be taught to see people as Christ does, with compassion, mercy and love. They must also be taught to uphold the standards and laws of God, for it is because of love that God provided the laws that we must follow. Without them we would be confused, lost and miserable. So when his law is not followed, Hebrews 12:6 says “the Lord disciplines the one he loves.” From this perspective, our children can then form healthy relationships, leading others to a loving connection with the ultimate expression of love, God. As a result, they are willing to be led and corrected.

Here are 3 simple ways we can help our children learn to love others in a healthy way:

Use kid's Bible crafts and activities to illustrate that love comes from God. And when we go to God we are filled with love that we can then pass onto others. Illustrate that true love comes with obedience, mercy, punishment and praise.
Memorizing Bible verses such as Luke 6:31, “Do unto others as you would have to do unto you.” (We love to use kids Bible songs to help memorize verses like these!) Be purposeful in engaging in imagination where they put themselves in someone else's position and ask, "what would you want to have happen if it were you?"
Be the example. This is truly where the will learn to love, by mimicking you.