Gracious teaches the Attributes of God
Growing in Grace Ministry
by Myrna D. Hughes
Gracious loves the Lord and he shares the good news of the gospel of Jesus Christ every opportunity that he gets. His children’s bible study is always full. All the children really enjoy his creative way in teaching them about all the wonderful things that God has done for them. Let’s peek in to see what Gracious is teaching today. I think he is teaching the kids about the attributes of God.
It was a warm bright afternoon, the sun‘s rays shone cheerfully through the windows.” Hello boys and girls” said Gracious, “hello” said all the children in unison. “I hope you all brought your bibles today, “Why do we need a Bible asked the new little girl Michelle as she placed her small hands over her eyebrows to shield the sun from her eyes?” “Because this is how God has chosen to show Himself unto us”, said Gracious as he walked over to the windows and pulled the shades down to block the sun’s rays. “By reading His Word, we get to know about God. It's just as if He is sitting right next to us talking. "For real, I want to hear what God has to say, replied Michelle, Gracious smiled as he gently patted her on the head. It was so wonderful to see the children so eager to learn about the things of God. "Today we are going to learn about God's attributes,” he said. Hannah raised her hand and inquired, "what is an attribute? An attribute is a unique quality about someone. "Something that makes them special and different from others", explained Gracious. "Oh like your pretty tan fur" said Hanna. "Yes like my fur", said Gracious. " And your smile," chimed in Michelle. Gracious could not help but smile. " I guess my smile is unique Michelle. But God has many characteristics that make Him very unique. There is none like Him. Can anyone tell me one thing about God that makes Him so special? Little hands shot up all over the room, as the children started yelling out answers. “Wait, one at a time”, exclaimed Gracious happy to see the children so excited. Marcus was bouncing up and down in his seat,” I know, I know”, he said. Gracious pointed to him. “OK Marcus, tell us something about God that makes Him unique” said Gracious. “He is sovereign”, said Marcus. “Indeed, He is”, replied Gracious “Do you know what sovereign means? “Yes”” said Marcus, “it means that God has absolute power to do whatever makes Him happy and nobody can challenge Him about it.” “Superb” said Gracious “that is an excellent definition of sovereign!” . “God created everything according to His pleasure and can do whatever He wants with His creation”. Ivana raised her hand. “Yes, Ivana” said Gracious. “If God created everything, then who created Him?” She asked. “Nobody created God, yelled Marcus”. All right, we must be courteous to one another said Gracious. “I’m sorry; please forgive me,” said Marcus. Would anyone like to explain to Ivana where God came from? “I will”, said Matthew. “God is eternal, He has no beginning and He has no ending.” “That’s right,” said Gracious“ He always was and always will be. I know this is very hard to understand, but God grants us the ability to believe through faith. Can anyone else describe any of the other attributes or characteristics of God that are unique to Him ?” Hands shot up again all around Gracious. “Ok Lauren, tell me something unique about God.” He is everywhere”, she said. ‘ Yes, He is omnipresent. “And He knows everything” she said. ‘Yes, He is omniscience.’ ‘Oh yeah and He is all-powerful, "Yes God is omnipotent. “You children are so smart”, beamed Gracious. Who else can name another attribute of God? "God is immutable, that means He never changes". said a strong voice from the other side of the children's circle. That's correct Matthew, He is not like us, we change all the time", said Gracious. "Another thing about God is veracity or Truth" said Matthew. "Very good young man" said Gracious, God indeed sets the standard as to what is true and what is not. There is still one very very important attribute of God that we have not discussed yet. Who can tell me what that could possibly be?” Christina one of the teens, who gladly helped with the younger children, quietly raised her hand. Yes, Chrissy said Gracious. “God is righteous”, she said. “Does that mean that He is always right” asked Michelle. “Something like that replied Christina. Righteousness is God’s standard of perfection. Another name for righteous is holy and only God is holy or just.” “Is there anybody here that feels that they are righteous,” asked Gracious? A few of the children raised there hands. “Why you believe that you are righteous,” said Gracious to Raymond, a quiet little boy with big hazel brown eyes and curly sandy hair. “Because I always obey my parents ,I do, all of my school work and I never talk back to my teachers. That is very admirable said Gracious, but have you ever done anything wrong? Raymond hung his little head, “Yes, I have”, he said sadly. “Well”, said Gracious,” let's open our Bibles and see what God has to say about being righteous. Raymond would you like to read the verse for us today,” “Ok” he replied. “We will be reading from Romans chapter 3:10 When you are ready, go ahead and start reading”. Raymond’s soft gentle voice read slowly but firmly. “As it is written, There is none righteous, no, not one”.
Ok Raymond now read verse 23, Raymond’s beautiful eyes scanned down to find the next verse to be read, then again, he read softly, “For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God.” “What do these verses mean to you, asked Gracious?” Raymond looked up at Gracious, “I guess I am not righteous after all”, he said. “Righteousness is something that is either all or nothing, there is no in between state. God is the only one who is perfect. We are all sinners, having no righteousness and we cannot do anything to make ourselves look perfect in the eyes of God.” Raymond put his little head down. “Hey Raymond don’t look so sad, God has made a way for us to be righteous in His sight through Jesus Christ.” “He has” said Raymond.
How?” “Turn in your Bible and read 2 Corinthians 5:21. “This time Raymond’s voice was stronger
“He made Him who knew no sin {to be} sin on our behalf, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.”
Gracious walked over to Raymond, placing his hand on his shoulder. “Son this verse teaches us that Jesus Christ, never did anything wrong , He was righteous and never sinned, He took upon Himself the penalty of our sins. He died on the cross for us, so that we could be considered righteous also in Him. When God looks at us He does not see us and our unrighteousness, instead He sees Jesus.” Now not only Raymond was smiling, but all the other children too. “Tell us more they said in harmony.”
“We will learn more the next time”, Gracious said. Now before we close who wants the challenge of naming the attributes of God that we talked about today? Hey (on line kids) why don't you see if you can name them also, play along with us, just follow the link to get to the games and puzzles. The Uniqueness of God. or Word Search (click link) The Attributes of God Crossword Puzzle
Who wants to close us out in prayer? “I do,” said Raymond. “Close your eyes everyone. Father God, thank you for letting us get to know you better, thank you for making us righteous in Jesus. Now bless Gracious to teach us more about you. In Jesus name Amen.
As each child left, Gracious hugged each of then. "See you guys next time", he said . The children poured out into the sun-drenched courtyard, he felt as cheery in his heart as the afternoon sunbeams. Gracious thanked God for the opportunity to share the wonderful gospel of Christ with the children.. Bless them Lord to Grow in Grace through the knowledge of you.