Of course. Here is a comprehensive Bible study on how to love others, based on the writings of Ellen White. ### **A Comprehensive Study on Loving Others** The command to love others is central to Christian faith and practice. It is not merely a suggestion but a divine command that reflects the character of God. #### **1. The Foundation: Reflecting Christ's Love for Us** The ability to love others does not originate with us. It is a response to and a reflection of the love that Christ has first shown us. To love others effectively, we must first focus on His love. * **Dwell on His Love, Not Others' Faults:** "If we keep uppermost in our minds the unkind and unjust acts of others we shall find it impossible to love them as Christ has loved us; but if our thoughts dwell upon the wondrous love and pity of Christ for us, the same spirit will flow out to others." (SC 121.1) * **Receive and Give Freely:** Our love for others is grounded in God's love for us. "Here is the ground upon which we should exercise compassion toward our fellow sinners. 'If God so loved us, we ought also to love one another.' 1 John 4:11. 'Freely ye have received,' Christ says, 'freely give.' Matthew 10:8." (COL 245.1) #### **2. The Standard: The Two Great Commandments** The Bible provides a clear standard for love, summarized in two core commandments that encompass all our duties to God and humanity. * **The Law of Love:** "The first great commandment is: 'Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart.' 'And the second is like, namely this, Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself.' On these two commandments the whole interest and duty of moral beings hang." (2T 550.3) * **Christ's New Commandment:** Jesus gave a profound and personal command that defines the nature of Christian love: "One of Christ's last commands to His disciples was 'Love one another as I have loved you.' John 13:34." (COL 144.2) #### **3. Practical Steps to Cultivating Love** Love is not just a feeling but an action and a cultivated disposition. Here are practical ways to develop and express Christlike love: * **Cultivate Humility and Patience:** "We should love and respect one another, notwithstanding the faults and imperfections that we cannot help seeing. Humility and self-distrust should be cultivated, and a patient tenderness with the faults of others. This will kill out all narrowing selfishness and make us large-hearted and generous." (SC 121.1) * **Esteem Others Higher Than Yourself:** "Cultivate a disposition to esteem others better than yourself. Be less self-sufficient, less confident; cherish patience, forbearance, and brotherly love. Be ready to help the erring, and have pity and tender sympathy toward those who are weak." (4T 133.3) * **Engage in Unselfish Service:** Love is demonstrated through service. "The law of love calls for the devotion of body, mind, and soul to the service of God and our fellow men... If we are strong to resist temptation we are under the greater obligation to help those who are weak and yielding. Have we knowledge, we should instruct the ignorant. Has God blessed us with this world's goods, it is our duty to succor the poor." (Ed 16.2, 5T 606.1) * **Practice Forgiveness and Reconciliation:** "If we have in any way grieved or wounded others, it is our duty to confess our fault and seek for reconciliation. This is an essential preparation that we may come before God in faith, to ask His blessing." (COL 144.2) * **Guard Your Words:** "We are exhorted to love as brethren, to be kind, courteous, forbearing, in honor preferring one another... No evil reports will be carried; tattling and gossip will cease; Christ and the truth will be magnified." (HS 214.1) #### **4. The Results of Christlike Love** Living a life of love brings profound blessings to ourselves and makes us a powerful witness to the world. * **Personal Transformation:** "Unselfishness underlies all true development. Through unselfish service we receive the highest culture of every faculty. More and more fully do we become partakers of the divine nature. We are fitted for heaven, for we receive heaven into our hearts." (Ed 16.2) * **A Witness to the World:** "Love for God and for one another constitutes the divine credentials which the children of God bear to the world. 'By this,' said Jesus, 'shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another.'" (HS 214.1) By focusing on Christ's love, adhering to His commands, and putting love into practice through humble service and kindness, we can fulfill the beautiful and transformative command to love one another.

Of course. Here is a Bible study on the profound cost of sin for the people of God, drawing from the writings of Ellen G. White and supported by Scripture. ### **The High Cost of Sin: A Bible Study** Sin is never a trivial matter in the eyes of God. From the smallest transgression to the greatest, its consequences have brought devastation to humanity and sorrow to the heart of God. This study explores the cost of sin as it affects God's people. #### **1. The Foundational Cost: Separation from God** The most immediate and devastating consequence of sin is separation from a holy God. This was the first result of Adam and Eve's transgression, and it remains the primary cost of sin today. * **Sin as the Great Separator:** Adam and Eve's sin, though it seemed a "small matter" to them, was a transgression of God's holy law. This act "separated man from God and opened the floodgates of death and untold woe upon our world." (SC 33.1) * **Biblical Support:** * "But your iniquities have separated you from your God; and your sins have hidden His face from you, so that He will not hear." (Isaiah 59:2, NKJV) * "For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord." (Romans 6:23, NKJV) #### **2. The Inevitable Judgment of God** God's law is immutable, and transgression brings certain consequences. While His mercy is abundant, His justice cannot be disregarded. * **Retribution is Certain:** The sins of God's people, if unrepented, will surely meet retribution. "Neglect to repent and obey His word will bring as serious consequences upon God's people today as did the same sin upon ancient Israel. There is a limit beyond which He will no longer delay His judgments." (4T 166.4) The story of Israel's sin at Beth-peor serves as a stark reminder of this reality (PP 461.1). * **Biblical Support:** * "Do not be deceived, God is not mocked; for whatever a man sows, that he will also reap." (Galatians 6:7, NKJV) * "For if we sin willfully after we have received the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins, but a certain fearful expectation of judgment, and fiery indignation which will devour the adversaries." (Hebrews 10:26-27, NKJV) #### **3. The Physical and Moral Degeneracy** Sin corrupts not only the soul but also the body and mind, leading to widespread suffering and decay. * **The Cause of Degeneracy:** Many of the diseases and miseries that plague humanity are the direct result of sin. "Nature has affixed terrible penalties to these crimes—penalties which, sooner or later, will be inflicted upon every transgressor. It is these sins more than any other that have caused the fearful degeneracy of our race, and the weight of disease and misery with which the world is cursed." (PP 461.1) * **Biblical Support:** * "If any man defile the temple of God, him shall God destroy; for the temple of God is holy, which temple ye are." (1 Corinthians 3:17, KJV) * Paul describes the downward spiral of sin, leading to a "debased mind" and bodies filled with unrighteousness (Romans 1:24-32). #### **4. The Corporate Responsibility for Sin** Sin is not merely an individual matter; it affects the entire community of believers. The church is called to maintain its purity. * **A Little Leaven:** God holds His people accountable for the sins they tolerate in their midst. "One sinner may diffuse darkness that will exclude the light of God from the entire congregation." (3T 265.1) If leaders fail to address wrongdoing, "His frown will be upon them, and the people of God, as a body, will be held responsible for those sins." (3T 265.1) * **Biblical Support:** * The story of Achan in Joshua 7 illustrates how one man's sin brought defeat upon the entire nation of Israel. * "Your glorying is not good. Do you not know that a little leaven leavens the whole lump? Therefore purge out the old leaven, that you may be a new lump." (1 Corinthians 5:6-7, NKJV) #### **5. The Memorial of Calvary: The Ultimate Cost** To truly understand the cost of sin, we must look to the cross. The sacrifice of Jesus Christ is the ultimate measure of sin's terrible price. * **The Amazing Sacrifice:** "Calvary stands as a memorial of the amazing sacrifice required to atone for the transgression of the divine law. Let us not regard sin as a trivial thing." (SC 33.1) Heaven itself felt the devastating effects of humanity's rebellion against God. * **Biblical Support:** * "For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life." (John 3:16, NKJV) * "But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us." (Romans 5:8, NKJV) In conclusion, sin costs us our connection with God, brings inevitable judgment, causes physical and moral decay, and defiles the community of believers. Its ultimate price was paid on Calvary, a solemn reminder that we should never treat sin as a light or trivial matter.