Part 8- The Purpose of Home Bible Study

Abiding in God’s love by loving your neighbor.

From Part 7, we can be filled with hope when we focus on the banner of God’s love. Just as the older couple abides in love with one another, we can persevere through this life when we abide in God’s hesed for us. We learned in the Bible study portion how we can abide in this love by obeying his commands. These commandments are not burdensome, for they are not required for salvation, but are a heartfelt expression of our love to God for all He has done. Part 8 spoke of the first great commandment: the purpose of the home is to love the Lord your God with all your heart. This leads us to the second commandment- love your neighbor as yourself.

What is a home without family? Home, at its core, can be defined beyond a physical dwelling, but as a place where our family is present. As we extend that to our spiritual home, our spiritual family is the church. “Consequently, you are no longer foreigners and strangers, but fellow citizens with God’s people and also members of his household” (Eph 2:19 NIV). As sisters and brothers in Christ, we are called to love one another.

Books could be written demonstrating what it means to love one another. A short essay cannot delve into all the caveats of how to love our church family. On your own, I encourage you to do a phrase study on all the times “one another” is mentioned in the Bible. As you look up all the ways that we are called to “one another,” write down two ways in which you feel you would like to love your sisters and brothers more in this way. (Read Romans 12:10, James 5:16, and 1 Thes 4:18 for a head start).

Read Luke 10:25-37. To review, we are to abide in God’s love through obeying the second commandment. We are to love our neighbor as ourselves. We can start by asking the same question the expert in the law asked in Luke 10:29: "And who is my neighbor?"

Let's review the characters in the story. List the four men in the story. What do you know about these men?

The man who was beaten is assumed to be a Jewish person, because Jesus is talking to a Jewish audience. The second and third men are very pious Jewish people. Based on their station, they were “most obliged to perform works of mercy, and from whom a person in distress would expect immediate comfort.” (“Study Guide for Luke 10 by David Guzik”) Then there is the Samaritan. This twist in the plot shocked Jesus’ Jewish listeners. Samaritans and Jews despised each other both racially and religiously.(“Study Guide for Luke 10 by David Guzik”) It was the beaten man’s enemy that had stopped and had mercy on him, not who you would assume to take care of the man.

Review Luke 10:36-37. When we evaluate the characteristics of a neighbor, it is not based on friendship ties or physical location that makes someone our neighbor. The characteristics of being a neighbor are twofold. 1) The Samaritan man had pity and showed mercy. 2) The Samaritan man humbled himself, allowing his plans to be interrupted and not allowing ethnic and ideological differences to get in the way of helping a person in need. There are many characteristics we could discuss to define what it means to be a neighbor, but we are going to focus on two: humility and mercy.

Define Humility:

What is the opposite of humility?

How does pride affect how we love others? (Philip 2:3 and Jer 9:23-24)

How can we have more humility when interacting with our immediate family? Church Family? Coworkers? Strangers?

How is this loving God when we are humble in the way we interact with others? How could this bring joy to your life? (Romans 12:3, James 4:6)

Define Mercy:

What is the opposite of mercy?

How does revenge or unforgiveness affect our bodies, relationship with God, and our ability to feel connected in our family, church, and community? (Proverbs 17:22, Mark 11:25, Proverbs 14:1)

How does God feel about unforgiveness and bitterness? (Ephesians 4:30-32)

Why are we to forgive or show mercy to others? (Colossians 3:12-14)

How then are we to show mercy? (1 Peter 4:8)

Reconciliation, the act of two parties coming together, forgiving one another, and restoring the relationship, is not always possible. It takes both parties to rebuild the bridge. However, forgiveness in our hearts and before God is always possible. Just as we used prayer to tear down walls and remove sin, we can use the same prayer to forgive others. We can also use this prayer to forgive ourselves for the things that we have done wrong. As a reminder, forgiveness of this nature is possible because Christ has already paid the debt that we owe.

Dear God,

I- Unforgiveness has hindered my relationship with you. Can you please identify the unforgiveness or bitterness in my life? (You can write down or say the memory and how it made you feel at the time.)

C- I confess that this experience made me feel ________. Jesus, can you give me new insight into that experience? You can listen to Jesus or journal later any thoughts you have about a change in perspective on the incident.

F—Lord, I ask for your forgiveness and ask you to give me the grace to forgive the person who hurt me. I give you the debt that is owed to me. Thank you for dying on the cross to pay my debt and the debt of the person who wronged me.

G—I give you this experience and ask for your help in not holding onto it any longer. Please help me forgive myself for the wrong I have done or what was done to me. I no longer need to be defined as a victim because I am defined by your love for me as your child. (If it is helpful, imagine the sin written on your hand and imagine yourself giving it to Jesus. He takes it from you, so you are no longer holding onto it.)

Thank you, Jesus, for your shed blood that washes me clean, and thank you for your healing in my life. Amen

My prayer is that you find freedom and healing in forgiveness. May you find the fullness of joy in loving others.

Reference:

“Study Guide for Luke 10 by David Guzik.” Blue Letter Bible, https://www.blueletterbible.org/comm/guzik_david/study-guide/luke/luke-10.cfm. Accessed 18 Nov. 2025.