Jesus Gives a New Command

John 4:1-30, 13:34-35; Luke 18:15-16, 19:1-10

Our true story comes from parts of the Bible called the Gospel of Luke and the Gospel of John. Luke and John were friends and helpers of Jesus. And the word gospel means “good news!”

We begin with Jesus, God’s Son. One day, Jesus was teaching, and He said something very important.


Jesus said the most important thing He wants us to do is to love each other the way that He loves us. And Jesus showed us how to love like Him! We can read about it in the Bible.


One day, Jesus was teaching some people. Some grown-ups brought their children to see Jesus, but Jesus’ friends, the disciples, told the children to go away.


When Jesus heard this, He said, “Let the little children come to me” (Luke 18:16, NIrV). Jesus loved the children! Jesus loves everyone—children, grown-ups, grandparents. We can love like Jesus and love everyone too!


Jesus loves everyone, even if they’ve made a bad choice. One day, Jesus met a man named Zacchaeus who had made bad choices. Zacchaeus didn’t have any friends because everyone was mad at him.


But Jesus was Zacchaeus’ friend. Jesus went to Zacchaeus’ house because He loved Zacchaeus and wanted to help Zacchaeus love others. Jesus loves everyone—even when they make bad choices. We can love like Jesus and love everyone too!


Then, there was a time when Jesus saw a woman at the well and He asked her for a drink of water. The woman was surprised when Jesus spoke to her because she was from a different town than Him. 


But Jesus loved the woman even though she was from a different town! Jesus loves everyone—no matter where they live. We can love like Jesus and love everyone too!


When we love everyone the way Jesus loves us, we are doing the most important thing Jesus taught us to do: Love like Jesus! You can love like Jesus, and I can love like Jesus. So, when someone asks you, “Who can love like Jesus?” You can say, “I can love like Jesus!”






Bible Verse: You are the light of the world. —Matthew 5:14, NIrV

Text Truth: Jesus said to love one another.



Family Devotional

“A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.”
—John 13:34-35

In our Bible Story, we learned something very important that Jesus wants us to do. Jesus said He wants us to love people the way He loves us! That means I can love like Jesus, and YOU can love like Jesus! So, when someone asks you, “Who can love like Jesus?” You can say, “I can love like Jesus!”

You are the light of the world. —Matthew 5:14, NIrV

With your family, get a piece of paper and make a list of how Jesus shows that He loves you. Have each member of your family write down one way Jesus showed that He loved people. And make sure each family member writes their name next to the “way” the write down.

Pray with your family. Allow any family members to pray if they wish. In your own words, say, “Dear God, thank You for sending Jesus to show us how to love others by first loving us. Thank You for how Jesus (read the list your family made). Jesus loves us no matter what! Please help (say each family member’s name) and me to love others the way Jesus loves us. We love You, God. In Jesus’ name. Amen.”

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Some story illustrations are made possible by a joint venture of Good News Productions, International and College Press Publishing Co. Artist, Paula Nash Giltner (www.theglobalgospel.org). Free Bibleimages have been granted permission to make these images freely available for personal, teaching and ministry use under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non-Commercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License. www.freebibleimages.org

Some story illustrations are the copyright of Sweet Publishing and licensed by FreeBibleimages (http://freebibleimages.org) for free download under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Share-alike 3.0 unported license.
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