What Are the "One Another" Verses? Teaching Kids to Put Christlike Love Into Action

Cold weather was finally headed our way, so the kids and I made a Walmart run to stock the pantry. Hot chocolate was at the top of the list.

Somewhere in the aisles, we ended up near an elderly woman on one of the electric carts. She reached for a box on a shelf, and several items came tumbling down around her. Before I could say a word, my kids were already picking things up.

A little later we landed in the checkout line, and the same woman pulled in behind us. One of my daughters asked if she could unload the basket onto the belt for her. She said yes. While the groceries rolled by, the two of us made small talk about the cold snap coming.

Then she leaned in close and said something I've never forgotten.

"Thank you for showing me a glimpse of God's love today. I didn't think kind or caring adults existed in today's society, much less children."

Love Is How People Recognize Jesus' Followers

I drove home with two feelings at once.

The first was the obvious one. Every mom wants a checkout line moment like that.

The second one stung. Picking up a few boxes and unloading a grocery basket is not extraordinary. And yet it surprised this woman so much that she'd stopped expecting it from anyone. Notice what she didn't say, though. She didn't say "what polite children." She saw ordinary help from a couple of kids, and she named God out loud in a Walmart checkout line. That's not a coincidence. It's exactly what Jesus said would happen. "By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another" (John 13:35). Love is the evidence the watching world can actually read.

Which raises the question every parent eventually asks: we tell our kids to be kind a hundred times a week. How do they learn the kind of love a stranger can see?

Why "Be Kind" Isn't Enough

Culture has an answer, and it's everywhere: be kind. It's on T-shirts, classroom posters, and yard signs. And underneath it sits a bigger idea: love is a feeling, and "good" is whatever feels right to you.

The problem is that none of it tells a child what to actually do. Kindness with no definition turns into vibes. Love that's only a feeling evaporates the moment it costs something, like the moment a sibling steps on your foot or a friend leaves you out.

Scripture does something completely different. It never leaves love up to feelings. God commands it, and then He defines it, action by action, in His Word. Romans 12:9 tells us to hate what is evil and cling to what is good, which only works because God, not culture, decides what good is.

That's what that woman saw in the checkout line. Not niceness. Small, specific, commanded actions: help, serve, welcome. And the best news for parents is that specific actions can be learned.

What Are the "One Another" Verses in the Bible?

The "one another" verses are New Testament commands that show believers exactly how to treat each other: love one another (John 13:34), forgive one another (Ephesians 4:32), encourage one another (1 Thessalonians 5:11), and serve one another (Galatians 5:13), along with welcoming, honoring, confessing to, and praying for one another. Together, they turn love from a vague feeling into specific, doable action. Jesus said this visible love is how the world would recognize His followers (John 13:35).

For a child, that's genuinely good news. "Love people" is abstract. "Encourage one another" is something a seven-year-old can do before lunch. The one another commands take the biggest idea in the Christian life and break it into actions small hands can hold.

What Is the One Another Bible Study?

One Another: Christlike Love in Action is a 20-day Bible study from Not Consumed that sends kids into their own Bibles to discover twenty specific ways God calls believers to love each other. It comes in Primary, Junior, and Youth levels plus a Parent Guide, so the whole family studies the same command at the same time.

It's Study 4 in the Called to Be series, and it's where the series turns outward. Created answers why God made your child. Who Am I settles who they are in Christ. Spiritual Fruit shows how the Spirit changes them. One Another is where all of it becomes visible in how they treat the person right in front of them.

Each day takes one command: love, sacrifice, humility, forgiveness, welcome, and on through encouragement, service, hospitality, honor, confession, and prayer. The study closes with review and a challenge to memorize a verse they'll carry long after Day 20.

• Love with instructions attached. Instead of stopping at "be kind," each day grounds one command in its own Scripture, so kids learn what love looks like according to God's Word.
• They look it up themselves. The verse is never printed on the page. Your child opens their own Bible every day and finds it. They build a habit that outlasts the study.
• One step at a time. Reflection questions take on hard things, like sacrificing for someone else, while reminding kids they don't have to have it all figured out yet. God's Word teaches them as they grow. 
• One topic, every age. Primary kids study alongside a parent; Junior and Youth work through their own independently. The whole family continues the conversation on the topic throughout the week. Kids also add to a rock climbing sticker scene with every day they finish.

My Kids Get Along Fine at Home. Do They Really Need This?

That's worth celebrating, and this study isn't limited to the living room. It's about how your child treats other believers at church, in their friend group, and in their community.  This study leads us to Scripture that teaches us how to approach all relationships in life. The kid who's sweet to his sister still has to decide what to do about the new kid at co-op, the friend who told the truth about him, and the woman in the electric cart. This is the study for those moments.

Shop the One Another Bible study

Questions Parents Ask

Isn't this just another kindness or character study?
No. Each day is grounded in a specific command from Scripture, not a general values message. Kids learn what love actually looks like according to God's Word, not according to a vague "be nice" standard.

This feels focused on church relationships. What about behavior at home?
The one another commands (forgiveness, honor, patience, encouragement) apply everywhere your child has relationships, starting at home and extending outward to church and community.

Will this make my child feel guilty if they don't measure up?
God's Word calls believers to grow in love, and this study reminds kids that following Jesus is a lifelong journey. Hard questions are always met with the hope and grace found in Scripture.

Love a Stranger Can See

I still think about that woman in the checkout line. My kids didn't preach to her. They picked up some boxes and unloaded some groceries. And somehow, she walked out of that store having seen a glimpse of God's love.

That's what your children will learn in the One Another study. It will give your child twenty small, concrete ways to love that the world can actually see, and Jesus promised the world would know exactly whom they belong to.

Point your children to the One who defined love long before culture did. The One Another Bible study puts that love into action, one command at a time.