We started off tonight by giving the kids their notebooks and asking them to write down "God Is" at the top of one page. We then asked them to make a list of everything they believed God to be, all of His attributes.
Once everyone was done, we asked them to one by one read their lists out loud. Each of the kids was asked to cross off any attributes they had on their lists that were the same as the ones being read. I have to say, we were quite impressed with the kids' answers. They were not "Sunday School" answers. We heard Alpha and Omega, unchangeable, forgiving, eternal, holy, and nearly 40 other descriptions of who these guys believe God is.
We discussed with the kids then how each list they came up with was not complete in and of itself. Most answers revolved around God being loving and kind and giving, you see. We told the kids how, believing that these things were all God was, was in reality creating their own God that made them feel comfortable and fit their way of life. We told them that there was much more to God than what they'd listed.
Each of them then received a homemade scroll and was asked to write down attributes of God on their scrolls as we discussed them one by one. Some of the attributes we covered were:
- Eternal - Psalm 90:2, 1 Timothy 1:17, Rev. 4:8
- Holy
- Unchanging - Jer. 23:24, Psalm 139:7-10, 1 Kings 8:27
- Infinite
- Omnipotent - All-Powerful
- Omnipresent - Everywhere All the Time
- All-Wise
- Omniscient - All-Knowing - 1 John 3:20, Psalm 147:5, Hebrews 4:13, Romans 11:34
- Self-Existent - He does not need us or the rest of creation for anything.
- Self-Sufficient - He does not need what we need in order to survive.
- Good
- Loving - 1 John 4:8
- Gracious
- Merciful
- Sovereign - Has a plan and purpose for everything and is the reason behind everything that happens.
- Jealous
- Just Judge
Again, we told the kids that this list was not exhaustive and that God had many other attributes, but to pick out only the ones that we feel good about or make us feel like better people or more comfortable to believe about God, was to create our own God-like idol to believe in....and this is a sin!
For application, I read some statements and, based on the list of God's attributes they now had, the kids told me whether or not each statement was true about God and why or why not.
- "I know lying is wrong, but it's just a small lie and it's really so no one's feelings will get hurt that I'm telling it so God won't mind." (False - Just)
- "It's not a big deal if I do this just once. Besides, no one is around and so no one will know." (False - Omnipresent)
- " Sure I didn't clean my room like my mom told me to, but hey, no one's perfect. I mean, even Jesus was just a kid once right? I bet He didn't always do everything His parents told Him to do." (False - Holy)
- "I feel so very sad that my grandpa was killed in that car accident, but I know that God was in control. He had a plan and a purpose for what happened." (True - Good, Sovereign, All-Wise)
- "I just don't know what to do about that kid at school who keeps bullying me. No one will understand. No one will be able to tell or show me what I can do about the situation." (False - All-Wise, Loving)
- "It's a good thing I was praying for that missionary all that time. Otherwise, he never would have survived that earthquake." (False - All-Powerful)
- "I just know that losing my bracelet was punishment for talking back to my dad the other day even though I repented and asked my dad to forgive me. It was God's way of disciplining me." (False - Merciful)
- "I am so torn. I want to go to that concert so badly. That band is my favorite! But I feel bad for my friend Cary. Her dad is out of work and her parents have no money to buy her a new pair of sneakers. I feel like I should give her the money I've been saving for the concert and I know it's what God would probably want me to do, but I LOVE music and going to concerts whenever I get the chance. And since God wants me to be happy, I think I should go to the concert." (False - Jealous)
- "God won't mind if I do this just once. Besides, afterwards I'll tell him how sorry I am and He'll forgive me because that's what He does when we apologize for our sins, right?" (False - Just)
In closing, we encouraged the kids to keep their scrolls somewhere they could reference them often and to use them when trying to decide if something they're thinking or saying or doing lines up with God's will for their lives and what is says about who they believe God to be as compared to who He really is.
