BIG IDEA: God shows us how to love.
This free Bible lesson, Love Everyone, will teach preschool and elementary students about the lessons found in 1 Corinthians 13 about loving others and showing love to others as we are putting spiritual gifts to use for God.
FOCUS BIBLE PASSAGE: Matthew 5:43-48; 1 Corinthians 13; 1 John 3:11-24
All of the printable activities and digital slides needed for the lesson, as well as a full printable lesson plan for both elementary and preschool are available.
Below is the outline of the free elementary Bible lesson.
PREP & SUPPLIES
- “Hot Seat” words/phrases printed & trimmed
- tape
- printed “Letter from Jesus” in an envelope
- printed & trimmed L-O-V-E cards (enough for groups of 2-4 students)
- printed 1 Corinthians 13 Reflection papers for each student
- pencils
- printed & trimmed sets of “L-O-V-E Truths” paper clipped together (one set per student)
- glue
- printed “1 John 3:18 Love in Action” papers for each student
- crayons and/or markers
MEMORY VERSE: “The LORD is good. His faithful love continues forever. It will last for all time to come.” Psalm 100:5 (NIrV)
THIS WEEK’S MEMORY VERSE ACTIVITY:
- PREP: Before students arrive, tape the parts of the memory verses under random chairs. *For more than one service, remember to prepare for the next group. You can have the kids help you return the papers.*
- After the kids are seated, instruct them to look under their chairs to see if they are sitting in one of the “hot seats” (a chair that has a word/phrase under it).
- Whoever finds a word/phrase, should bring the paper to the front of the room. All students must arrange themselves in the correct order.
LESSON HOOK ACTIVITY
You will be reading a “letter from Jesus”. The “letter” is from Jesus’s teaching in Matthew 5:43-48.
You all are not going to believe who I received a letter in the mail from!
I have a letter from Jesus that I want to share with you.
READ THE “LETTER FROM JESUS” ALOUD TO STUDENTS, PAUSING OCCASSIONALLY SO THEY CAN UNDERSTAND THE MEANING FOUND INSIDE HIS WORDS.
This isn’t really a letter from Jesus is it?
But you know what? Every word that I just read to you are words from the Bible that Jesus said to His disciples and followers. Jesus’s teaching that I just read to you can be found in the Book of Matthew. Matthew is one of the Gospel books. What does “gospel” mean? (good news)
The Gospel books are at the very beginning of the New Testament of our Bible and they teach us about Jesus’s life on earth as a human and His ministry of teaching and serving. What other BIG thing did Jesus do when He was here on earth as a human? (allow responses and discussion)
Jesus came to earth to live a sinless life. He died on the cross to take the punishment for our sins. He was buried, and He rose back to life on the third day. Now where is He? (Heaven)
That is the good news! Jesus came to earth to save us! That is why the first four books that teach about His ministry on earth are called “Gospel” books!
What was the overall topic of Jesus’s teachings that I read to you? (love)
Today we are going to look at some more passages in the Bible that teach us about loving others.
BIBLE LESSON
(SLIDE 3) Before we look at the other passages that teach us about loving others, I want us to go back to Jesus’s teaching from the book of Matthew that I read to you in His “letter” and think about what He is teaching us.
Read the passage aloud or allow a student to read it aloud.
Below, each time the slide changes, the focus part of the passage is highlighted in red.
(SLIDE 4) Let’s break this passage down so that we can understand it better.
You have heard that it was said, “Love your neighbor. Hate your enemy.”
Does anyone know where we find the words “Love your neighbor”? (Leviticus 19:18; Moses’s Law from God)
The words “Love your neighbor” are part of the Law of God that was given to Moses for the people to follow. We can read about it in the Old Testament book of Leviticus.
The second part “Hate your enemy” is sadly the way that most people, including the religious leaders at the time that this was written would have interpreted (understood and taught) the Law. They would say that if we love our friends, then we should hate our enemies.
But is that what God wants us to do? Does He want us to hate anyone? (no)
(SLIDE 5) Jesus continues teaching. Instead of hating our enemies he says:
But here is what I tell you: Love your enemies. Pray for those who hurt you. Then you will be children of your Father who is in heaven.
Jesus says we should LOVE our enemies and pray for people who hurt us and who are unkind to us. Is that difficult to do sometimes? (allow responses and discussion)
God loves everyone, so He wants us also to love everyone – even people who are not necessarily our “friends”, and even people who are actually someone we would consider an “enemy” because they are unkind to us or have treated us badly.
He is saying that people who love their enemies and pray for people who hurt them will be loving like God loves everyone.
(SLIDE 6) The next part of the passage should really make us think. Let’s read it:
He causes his sun to shine on evil people and good people. He sends rain on those who do right and those who don’t.
I want you to think for a minute about what that means. (allow wait time and then responses and discussion)
Jesus is saying that God loves everyone so much that He will give both sunshine and rain to all people whether they are good or evil, or are doing right or wrong. It is true that God will forever love people who have chosen to follow Jesus in a different way than He loves all of His created people. But, He still loves all people even if they are not considered “good” or “doing right”.
(SLIDE 7) Jesus asks two questions in the next part of the passage. Let’s think about what He is trying to teach us:
If you love those who love you, what reward will you get? Even the tax collectors do that. If you greet only your own people, what more are you doing than others? Even people who are ungodly do that.
What do you think Jesus is asking and teaching in this part of the passage? (allow responses and discussion)
Jesus is saying basically that it isn’t real difficult to love people who are nice to us and people that we are friends with. He says that even people who are not considered “good people” love people and are kind to people that they are close with.
Does anyone know why Jesus talks about tax collectors in this verse? (allow responses)
Tax collectors at that time were considered to be disloyal/betraying to their own people. They became symbols for “bad people”.
They were Jewish people who were working for the Roman government to tax the Jewish people unfairly. So, the Jewish people didn’t really care for tax collectors very much.
Jesus is saying that even people who were considered “bad people” love the people who are kind to them.
(SLIDE 8) Jesus ends this part of His teaching with a confusing statement. He says:
So be perfect, just as your Father in heaven is perfect.
Let’s think about what He meant by this. Who is our Father in heaven? (God)
Is God perfect? (yes)
Is it possible for us to be perfect like God? (no)
So why is Jesus telling us to be perfect like God?
Jesus knew that it is impossible for us to be perfect, but He also knew that the gift He gave us by dying on the cross removes all of our sin and imperfection so that we APPEAR PERFECT, even when we aren’t.
We are made perfect through the gift that Jesus gave us!
What gift does Jesus offer us? (allow responses and discussion)
Jesus came to earth to live a perfect life without any sin so that He could die on the cross to take the punishment for our sin. Then He rose back to life and now He lives in Heaven.
Anyone who chooses to believe in Jesus and accept His free gift will be saved. That means that He will take away your sin forever, and even though you will still sin, He has already paid the price for that sin.
The price for sin is separation from God, but when Jesus paid the price for sin that means when you accept His gift, you will get to live forever with God!
Isn’t that amazing? Before we move on, does anyone have any questions? (allow discussion if students are curious)
This week’s “Bible Story” and “Large Group Activity” are combined.
We are going to look at another passage of Scripture from the book of 1 Corinthians in the New Testament of the Bible. This chapter is sometimes called the “love chapter” because it is all about teaching us how to love.
The book of 1 Corinthians was written by a human author named Paul. Paul was an Apostle of Jesus, which means that Jesus asked Him personally to go out and spread the good news about Jesus. Paul wrote a big part of the New Testament.
Did you know that the human authors of our Bible were given the words to write by God?
That is why we say that the author of the Bible is God, even though many human authors actually wrote down the words.
So, if chapter 13 in the book of 1 Corinthians that we are getting ready to read is all about showing us how to love, and God is the author of the Bible, we can say that…
(SLIDE 9) GOD SHOWS US HOW TO LOVE. That is our BIG IDEA this week.
God shows us in His Word, the Bible, how to love others. God gave the words to Paul, and Paul wrote them down for us to read thousands of years later.
Students should work in groups of 2-4.
Each group should get a set of L-O-V-E cards.
Each person should get a L-O-V-E reflection paper and a pencil.
DO NOT HAND OUT THE SETS OF LOVE TRUTHS PAPER STRIPS YET.
Leaders should be available to circulate the room and help students read and comprehend the passages.
Remind students to leave the small boxes at the bottom of each larger box empty. After students have reflected with their small groups, they will come back together as a large group and then you will hand out the additional reflections for them to glue in those spaces.
Today, we are going to break up into small groups. Each small group is going to get a set of L-O-V-E cards. Each person is going to get a L-O-V-E reflection paper.
On each of the cards, there is a small part of the passage found in 1 Corinthians chapter 13. With your group, you will read each card. Think about what it means and discuss it with your group. This is called “reflection”.
When you think deeply about something, you are reflecting on what it means and how you can apply it to your own life.
After you have thought about the passage and its meaning, and discussed it with your group, then you will each take some time to write down your thoughts on your reflection paper in the box that matches that card. This will be a paper that you can take with you and put in your Bible to look back at later.
At the bottom of each box, there is a space. Leave that space blank for now. After you have had some time to reflect on your own and with your group, then we will go over your thoughts together. I am going to give you some other thoughts on pieces of paper that you can add to your reflection paper.
Part of verse 8 and verses 9-12 are not included in this lesson.
Allow students time to read and reflect on the 4 passages from 1 Corinthians 13 with their groups.
Now we are going to discuss your thoughts and add some more Truths to your reflection papers.
First, let’s start with some background for this passage. Paul is writing to a church in Corinth. He is teaching them about being loving when they are using the gifts that were given to them by the Holy Spirit. Who is the Holy Spirit? (allow responses)
(SLIDE 10)
The Holy Spirit is the third Person of the Trinity. Remember, our God exists as three in one. He is ONE GOD but He exists in THREE Persons. He is God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. When we believe in Jesus and ask Him to save us, we receive the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit comes to live inside of all the people who believe in Jesus. The Holy Spirit is our guide and our comfort. He never leaves us.
The Holy Spirit also gives special talents to believers in Jesus. We call these special talents “spiritual gifts”. Some people are great teachers and leaders, some people are very faithful and full of wisdom, some people are compassionate and giving to others and merciful. There are many different spiritual gifts.
Some of the spiritual gifts that people used to have in the time of the early church when Paul was writing this letter are no longer given to believers. These include “prophecy”, or being able to predict future events through the help of the Holy Spirit, and “speaking in tongues”, or being able to start speaking in a language that you don’t know how to speak through the power of the Holy Spirit.
Paul is teaching the people in the church at Corinth about how to use their spiritual gifts and show love as they do so.
SLIDE 11) “L” Card: 1 Corinthians 13:1-3
Suppose I speak in the languages of human beings or of angels. If I don’t have love, I am only a loud gong or a noisy cymbal. Suppose I have the gift of prophecy. Suppose I can understand all the secret things of God and know everything about him. And suppose I have enough faith to move mountains. If I don’t have love, I am nothing at all. Suppose I give everything I have to poor people. And suppose I give myself over to a difficult life so I can brag. If I don’t have love, I get nothing at all.
Allow students to share their reflections from their papers, then read the text below.
Paul is referring to the spiritual gift of speaking in other languages. We call this “speaking in tongues”. He is also referring to the gift of “prophecy” which means predicting future events.
These were gifts that were given to some of the early believers, but we no longer receive these gifts from the Holy Spirit.
We do still have people who have been given the gift of “preaching and teaching”. Sometimes this is called “prophecy”, but since our Bible was complete and put together back in the very first century there has been no need for new “prophets” to predict future events, so God no longer gives the gift of “prophecy” in that way.
But at the time that Paul was writing this letter, there were people who had the gift of “prophecy”. Now, we have people who have the gift of “preaching and teaching” about the Bible.
Paul is saying that if someone has these spiritual gifts that he mentions, or any spiritual gift that God gives us and we DON’T HAVE LOVE, then the work that we do with our spiritual gift means nothing!
He says that using our spiritual gifts without love is like a loud gong or a noisy cymbal. Has anyone ever heard the sound of a gong? What about a noisy cymbal?
A loud gong and a noisy cymbal are distracting, they can sound irritating, and they most definitely will not help someone learn about Jesus. Paul is teaching that without love, our actions and words go nowhere.
Paul is saying that we should have an attitude of love in everything that we do, especially when we are using the gifts that God has given us.
(SLIDE 12) “O” Card: 1 Corinthians 13:4-5
Love is patient. Love is kind. It does not want what belongs to others. It does not brag. It is not proud. It does not dishonor other people. It does not look out for its own interests. It does not easily become angry. It does not keep track of other people’s wrongs.
Allow students to share their reflections from their papers, then read the text below.
In this part of the passage, Paul is listing out the different characteristics of love. You may have heard this passage before. It is sometimes read aloud at weddings, or printed on pictures.
Let’s think about what each of these characteristics of love means.
Take the time to allow students to explain in their own words what each of the characteristics listed means.
Patient = being able to stay calm and positive while waiting for something without getting upset
Kind = friendly, helpful, nice
NOT Envious = not jealous
NOT Arrogant = does not brag
NOT Proud = not bragging or rude
NOT Dishonoring = treating people with respect and honesty
NOT Selfish = selfless; looking out for others
NOT Easily Angered = calm; doesn’t get mad or upset easily
NOT Tracking Other People’s Sin = not wanting other people to “mess up”
(SLIDE 13) “V” Card: 1 Corinthians 13:6-8
Love is not happy with evil. But it is full of joy when the truth is spoken. It always protects. It always trusts. It always hopes. It never gives up. Love never fails.
Allow students to share their reflections from their papers, then read the text below.
In this part of the passage, Paul is continuing his list of characteristics of love. Let’s think about what each of these characteristics of love means.
Take the time to allow students to explain in their own words what each of the characteristics listed means.
NOT Happy With Evil = not sinful
Full of Joy at Truth = happy with Truth
Protecting = keeps safe
Hopeful = believes in good
Never Gives Up = keeps trying
Never Fails = everlasting
(SLIDE 14) “E” Card: 1 Corinthians 13:13
The three most important things to have are faith, hope and love. But the greatest of them is love.
Allow students to share their reflections from their papers, then read the text below.
In this part of the passage, Paul is teaching us about how important love is in the life of a Christian (person who believes in Jesus).
He says we should have 3 characteristics. What are they? (faith, hope, and love)
What is faith? (believing in something without seeing it)
What is hope? (believing that something good will happen)
What is love? (caring deeply for someone)
Love is a characteristic of God. God cares deeply for us. He loves us.
We can have FAITH, and believe in God, and we can have HOPE, a focus on God, but Paul is teaching us that LOVE is the action and attitude in our lives and hearts that comes from our faith and hope.
When you LOVE, you will also have FAITH (belief), and HOPE (focus on good).
Love should come first.
Pass out the L-O-V-E Truths paper strips and allow time for students to glue them on the correct spaces. Each student should get a set of 4 paper strips.
Remind students to keep these papers and place them in their Bibles to be able to look back at later.
Dear God,
Thank you for the Bible and all of the Truths that you teach us in the Bible. Please help us to understand what You are teaching us and help us to be bold enough to ask questions when we don’t understand something. Thank You for the lessons about love that Paul wrote about. Please help us to show love in all that we do to everyone around us.
We love you and we pray all of these things in Jesus’ sweet name, Amen.
SMALL GROUP ACTIVITY
We have learned that God shows us how to love. Today in your small groups, you are going to read one more verse from the Bible and then think about how you can put love into action. What do you think it means to “put love into action”? (allow responses and discussion)
“Putting love into action” means taking your feelings and attitude of love and finding ways to show it and express it to others.
Have students look up 1 John 3:18 and read the verse from the Bible. Pass out 1 John 3:18 Love in Action papers. Small group leaders should help students with reflecting and listing ways they can put love into action. (help others, give to others, ways to love at home/loving parents and siblings, teach others, etc.) Students may color their paper after they have made their list.
BREAK INTO SMALL GROUPS TO COMPLETE THE ACTIVITY.
Discussion Prompts for Leaders:
- Who is the author of the Bible? (God)
- Who is the Holy Spirit? (the third Person of the Trinity)
- Who receives the Holy Spirit? (people who have chosen to believe in and follow Jesus)
- What are spiritual gifts? (gifts that are given by the Holy Spirit to people who believe in Jesus)
- Are there some spiritual gifts that were given in the early church that are no longer given? (yes: prophecy, speaking in tongues)
- What are the characteristics of love? (patience, kindness, not envious, not arrogant, not proud, not dishonoring, not selfish, not easily angered, not tracking other people’s sin, not sinful, full of joy at Truth, protecting, hopeful, never giving up, never fails)
- Why is it important to show love to everyone? (without love, anything that we try to do means nothing; love brings faith and hope)
- What is a Christian? (a person who follows Jesus)
- What are the three characteristics Paul says that Christians should have? (faith, hope, love)
- Which of these is the greatest? (love)
- What is faith? (believing in something without seeing it)
- What is hope? (believing that something good will happen)
- What is love? (caring deeply for someone)
- Why is love the greatest? (when we love we will also have faith and hope)
- What did Jesus do for us on the cross? (died to take the punishment for our sins and rose back to life)
- What is this week’s Big Idea? (God shows us how to love.)
- What is this week’s memory verse? (Psalm 100:5)
CLOSING REFLECTION
We learned that God shows us how to love. God is full of love and He wants us to love others even when it isn’t easy. When we do anything without love, then the work we are trying to do means nothing. We can have FAITH, and believe in God, and we can have HOPE, a focus on God, but LOVE is the action and attitude in our lives and hearts that comes from our faith and hope. When we love, we will also have faith (belief), and hope (focus on good). Love should come first.
Reflection Questions:
- What are the characteristics of love? (patience, kindness, not envious, not arrogant, not proud, not dishonoring, not selfish, not easily angered, not tracking other people’s sin, not sinful, full of joy at Truth, protecting, hopeful, never giving up, never fails)
- Why is it important to show love to everyone? (without love, anything that we try to do means nothing; love brings faith and hope)
- Does anyone have any questions about today’s lesson?
Find other free Bible lessons for kids:
