Splink | Loving Your Neighbor

Mercy in Love

Read Luke 10:25-37 or summarize it for your family. The parable of the Good Samaritan is a great example of showing mercy in love.

Jesus used the parable to correct the false understanding of who our neighbors are and what our duty to them is. Jesus also commands us to not only love our neighbors, but also our enemies and to do good to those who hate us or with whom we don’t get along.

Challenge family members to memorize Luke 6:35-36.  Younger family members can be challenged to memorize these summary statements for the verses:

Love your enemies.

Do good.

Be merciful.

Jesus wants us to show love, compassion, and mercy to others, even our enemies. Loving our neighbors is how we can show them the love and mercy that was extended to us through Jesus.

Discuss ways to live out these encouragements from Scripture and look for opportunities to praise family members when you notice them showing love, mercy, or compassion to others.

A Good Question

Play 20 questions to guess the name of a friend that everyone in the family would know.  Encourage family members to ask 20 questions (that can be answered with a yes or no) to see if they can guess the friend’s name. Play a few rounds and then discuss for a few minutes why those people are considered friends.

Read Luke 10:25-37.

These verses contain some very important questions.

Lead your family to identify the questions asked by the man Jesus was speaking with and the ones Jesus asked.

The last question asked was, “who is my neighbor?” How does this parable of the Good Samaritan answer the question asked by the man?

 Discuss the parable and encourage family members to explore ways to apply it to their lives this week.

Serving Is Loving

Write each family member’s name on a slip of paper, fold it in half, and put it in a bowl. Then ask each one to draw a name and make sure it is not his or her own name. Names should be kept a secret.

Announce that for a set period of time (a whole day or longer) they must find as many ways as possible to serve that person without letting them know. You may need to share a few ideas privately with each one (make their bed, add a nice note to their lunch, leave a snack or small gift on their pillow, do their chore, etc.). Since everyone is serving, it should be hard to guess who their secret server is.

At bedtime, ask each one to guess who their secret server might be.

Jesus gladly served others. Jesus said that if we serve others, we will be blessed. (John 13:17) Serving others is a great way to love our neighbors as ourselves.