Sabbath School Lesson for March 14-20, 2026
Introduction of Lesson 12, Living With Each Other
Memory Text: “Let your speech always be with grace, seasoned with salt, that you may know how you ought to answer each one.” Colossians 4:6 NKJV
Living with Christ is one thing (He’s pretty easy to get along with), but living with each other here on earth (our horizontal relationships) can be much more challenging. In his letter to the Colossians, Paul carefully explored these human relationships and how we can manage them more successfully.
The closest relationships can be the most tense and unpredictable, unless there are some basic values and goals to guide our interactions. In Colossians, therefore, we find some foundational principles that can help us navigate these tricky waters.
Paul addressed the close marital relationship, then children and their parents, work-related issues, and finally dealings with our church family and the community at large. All our interactions can be troublesome without guardrails to keep us on track.
- Sunday: Husbands and Wives
- Monday: Parents and Children
- Tuesday: Work Relations
- Wednesday: Praying for One Another
- Thursday: Walking in Wisdom
Sunday: Husbands and Wives
Obviously, the happiest, most successful marriages are the ones where both partners work as a team, as God designed in the Garden of Eden. This means consulting each other, thinking through and making decisions together. Recognizing that marriage represents the relationship Christ has with the church, everything should be done with the utmost love and respect.
Wives are told to submit to her husbands, as the church submits to Christ. Just as Christ gave His life for the church, a husband should be loving and sensitive when it comes to his wife’s wishes, in order to keep her love and respect.
This mutual love and submission must not be done blindly or coercively. Neither partner must swallow up the individuality of the other. Working together, husbands and wives can most effectively guide their families, making their home feel like a piece of heaven on earth.
Verses and questions:
Colossians 3:18, 19 and Ephesians 5:21-25
- How should husbands and wives treat each other?
Ephesians 5:33
- Why is mutual love and respect important for both husband and wife?
- What happens when this mutual love and respect is missing in a relationship?
- How has Paul’s guidance been practiced in your marriage, or that of your parents, and what has been the result?
Monday: Parents and Children
Children, both when they are young and when they are adults, are important in keeping the family spiritually alive and well. Paul advised children to be obedient to their parents, just as the fourth commandment requires. Parents, as caretakers of their young children, should ideally have their adult children honor them by helping take care of them in their senior years.
Regarding the parents’ relationship and role in the upbringing of children, they have a responsibility to provide daily family worship that becomes a cherished and valued memory to the children throughout their lives (Deuteronomy 6:7).
In his letter to the Colossians, Paul only mentioned that fathers not provoke their children to anger. Fathers do play a prominent role as spiritual leaders. Indeed the discipline of both parents must not be so harsh that their offspring are driven to anger.
God expects us to obey Him out of love. Therefore, children must be disciplined in such a way that they obey out of love, and not because of any forceful discipline from either parent.
Verses and questions:
Colossians 3:20, 21
- How might children have problems when it comes to obeying their parents?
- When the parents’ commands go against God’s wishes, how should it be handled?
- What kind of intervention might God provide to draw children to Him when one or both parents are negligent, or even abusive?
Tuesday: Work Relations
More counsel was given to the slaves than any other group in this passage of Paul’s letter to the Colossians. Colossians 3:22-25 does not endorse the kind of forced, perpetual slavery along racial lines that often comes to mind today. Slavery found in the Old Testament Bible was considered an appropriate way to pay debts; but it had strict Mosaic time limits and restrictions on its practice. And even Roman slavery of the New Testament era often came with considerable privileges and opportunities for advancement that wasn’t seen in later slavery practices.
In any event, Paul emphasized that workers (even paid ones like today) should labor hard, as if they were doing it for God, not just to please their master (or employer). Their excellent service would be noticed and would reflect well on the God they were serving.
Masters, likewise, were admonished to treat their servants fairly, remembering that they, too, had a Master in heaven they must strive to please (Colossians 4:1).
Verses and questions:
Colossians 3:22-4:1
- How can these instructions be used today, when the forced labor of slavery is not practiced?
- What often causes tension between laborers and their employers, and how can it be avoided?
- Why do you think Paul mentioned children, wives, and slaves first in each group of this passage, before he addressed husbands, parents, and masters?
Wednesday: Praying for One Another
Paul’s guidance for church members begins with a strong reminder to pray for each other, thanking God for the opportunity to have fellowship with like believers and for the way God blesses each of us.
The words, “I’m praying for you” should come easily when we learn of the needs of someone in our circle of friends. At times, it’s appropriate to pray out loud on the spot for that friend, confirming the sincerity of our concern and their immediate need. In any event, fervent, persevering, heartfelt prayers to God should be on our lips continually (Ephesians 6:18 and 1 Thessalonians 5:17).
Paul preached and wrote eloquently, and yet he asked the Colossians to pray for him to have the right words as he witnessed in Rome during his imprisonment. Prayer gives us all the courage and the words to speak the gospel message to others.
Verses and questions:
Colossians 4:2-4, Ephesians 6:18, 1 Thessalonians 5:17, and Romans 8:26
- What principles for prayer are found in these verses?
- Why does having someone pray for us help us feel closer to each other and to God?
- What was Paul’s prayer request?
Thursday: Walking in Wisdom
Finally reaching the outer ring of our circle of influence, Paul said we must consider those who aren’t in our church family–from our closest neighbors to ones who might live miles away in a foreign land.
All can benefit in some way, if we stay in the Word and live out its message with the Lord’s help. We need to be careful how we live, making wise, thoughtful choices that reflect God’s will. “Redeeming the time” means simply to make the most of every opportunity given us (Colossians 4:5).
Living out our faith will often bring questions from those around us. We must ask the Holy Spirit for grace-filled words to answer inquiries in such a way that they will feel drawn to God and seek to know more about Him. Our words should be “seasoned with salt”, as Paul put it (Colossians 4:6). In other words, we must make it sound so deliciously attractive to their ears that they want to hear more.
Verses and questions:
Colossians 4:5
- What does it mean to “walk in wisdom”?
- How do we, and you personally, make the most of every opportunity to share our faith (“redeeming the time”)?
Colossians 4:6
- How is speaking with grace more than just being kind and polite?
- Why does our speech need to be “seasoned with salt”? What does that mean?
Friday: Final Thoughts
Reflecting on the many wars that trouble our planet, now and throughout earth’s history, we recognize that people have major problems when it comes to living with each other. Paul’s advice in how to handle problematic relationships, both close ones and reaching out to those in ever widening circles, is a good place to start in rectifying some of the issues that lead to war and conflict.
Ellen G. White spoke of family relationships in The Adventist Home, p. 179, with words that might apply to other relationships we find troubling:
“All should unitedly engage in the good work of encouraging one another; they should exercise gentleness, forbearance, and patience; speak in low, calm tones, shunning confidence; and each doing his utmost to lighten the burdens of the mother.”
“Our happiness depends upon this cultivation of love, sympathy, and true courtesy to one another…” as she later wrote in Testimonies for the Church, vol. 3, p. 540.
We need to pay attention to Paul’s writings and other wise, spiritual counsel that supports him, if we want to get along better with those in our world. If leaders across the globe would follow such counsel, and settle their differences diplomatically, rather than militarily, there would be much less strife and warfare turning people’s lives upside down. We can only pray now that more will listen and do things God’s way, and that those in harm’s way are comforted in their suffering and grief.
Next Week: Standing in All the Will of God
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