Bible study: Character Traits of God, week 1

Dear parents,

This week Carlon's Bible study started a four-week study examining the characteristics of God. We will look at a different attribute during each lesson and see how that specific quality affects our understanding of God. This week we looked at God’s holiness and studied Isaiah 6:1-5. We discussed what holiness is and how God—who is holy—wants a relationship with humanity, even though we have sin in our lives.

We talked with our students about how God expects Christians to live holy lives. This doesn’t mean being perfect, but allowing God to work in our lives and make us more like Jesus—more complete. Our teenagers also discussed how their lives might be different if they allowed God’s holiness to be lived out in their day-to-day actions.

Take time this week to talk with your teenager about God’s holiness. Here are some questions that could help fuel your dialogue:
• If you think about holiness as if it means working hard to be perfect, it
seems hopeless—why would God tell us to do something that seems impossible in our own strength?
• What are some of the obstacles we face in growing to be more like Jesus?
• Who’s the holiest person you know? Why would you describe that person as holy?

I’d also encourage you to take time to pray that your teenager will live out God’s command from 1 Peter 1:16: “You must be holy because I am I am holy.” Have a great week!