Theme: Character of God
 
Ideas

1. Gentleness of God
2. Kindness of God
3. Holiness of God
 
God is…

1. …not a man, Num. 23:19
2. …a consuming fire, Deut. 4:24
3. …a compassionate God, Deut. 4:31
4. …the God of gods, Deut. 10:17
5. …gracious and compassionate, 2 Chron. 30:9
6. …a righteous judge, Ps. 7:11
7. …our refuge and strength, Ps. 46:1
8. …my helper, Ps. 54:4
9. …a sun and shield, Ps. 84:11
10. …faithful, 1 Cor. 1:9
11. …opposed to the proud, James 4:6
12. …light, 1 John 1:5
13. …love, 1 John 4:8

# Devotion 1: God is light - 1 John 1:5
 
I want to read a very interesting little verse to you all from a letter by the apostle John. It's in 1 John, chapter 1, verse 5. Here's what it says:
 
**1 John 1:5**  
**5** This is the message we have heard from Him and announce to you, that God is Light, and in Him there is no darkness at all.
 
What does this mean?  
We shouldn't look up at the light shining from the sun, or a lamp and say, "Ahhhh, it's God!" No, that's not what John is saying at all. In fact, way back in Genesis, the Bible says God created the light in the first place. So, the light can't be God. That's not what John is trying to say.
 
John is using something called a metaphor to help us understand what God is like. For example, if I said, "That Aaron Rodgers, he's a beast on the football field!" You wouldn't really think that I meant that Aaron Rodgers has four legs, a tail and a big fangs! But, you'd probably know that I just meant he was quick and aggressive and strong--just like you might think of some kind of beast. That would be a metaphor to help you understand what Aaron Rodgers is like.
 
So, what is John trying to say about God when he uses this metaphor, "God is light"?
 
Well, I don't know if you knew this, but did you know that without light we wouldn't know what anything at all ever looked like? That's right. Light shoots out from the sun, or a flashlight or a lamp and bounces of off things (like that chair) and flies right into your eyeballs so you can see what things look like! Just think if that didn't happen--if you couldn't see anything. You would be constantly running into things, stubbing your toes, tripping over stuff--it would be terribly painful. But more than that, you'd never know how pretty things are--you wouldn't know what colors look like or how wonder the sky looks during a sunset, or how beautiful the clouds can be. You wouldn't be able to hit a baseball or shoot a basket or catch a football or paint or draw or build anything.
 
Light makes so many wonderful things possible because it shows us where things are and what things look like.
 
And that's why I think John is comparing God to light. God is like light in that the more we get to know who God is, the more we know about what the world really looks like, the more we know how wonderful it is, the more we know what's good and what's bad, what's beautiful and what's ugly.
 
If you pay close attention this week, you're going to be learning a lot of things about God. Each little bit more you learn about God is like opening your eyes a little wider to let a little more light in to see the world how it really is.
 
If you listen closely this week, you'll see very clearly how wonderful God really is. But you'll also see how much you and I need to be saved by God. You ignore this truth if you want, but that would be like keeping your eyes tightly shut and stumbling around in the darkness. "God is light"--let's open our eyes and see things the way God wants us to!

# Devotion 2: God is love - 1 John 4:8
 
Do you remember how I talked about a little verse that apostle John wrote in one of his letters about how God is light? Well, I found another very interesting little verse in the same letter. Here it is. It's in 1 John, chapter 4, verse 8:
 
**1 John 4:8**  
**8** The one who does not love does not know God, for God is love.
 
There's another metaphor, like we talked about way back on Monday. Now John is saying that God is love. When John said "God is light", it seems like he was trying to tell us something about God by comparing Him to light. So what is John saying this time?
 
There's a lot of talk out there about love, isn't there? We've all read a book or seen a movie or a TV show where somebody falls in love with someone else. Maybe you've even had someone try to tell you what love really is. "Real love", they say, is "doing this" or "saying that" or "feeling another thing".
 
We all want to be loved, don't we? I think so. So, should we believe all these things we hear about what love is and try to go find them?
 
Well, here's what God says about love: "Greater love has no one than this, that one lay down his life for his friends". Do you know what it means to lay down your life? It means you'd be ready to even die to save someone else. God says, there is no greater love that kind of love.
 
Did you know that's exactly the kind of love that Jesus has for you? He died on the cross to save you because He loves you.
 
That's what John means with this metaphor. If we want to know what it truly means to be loved and if we want to know what love really looks like, we only need to look at what God has done for us.
 
You can choose to ignore that love, if you want. But if you do, you're missing out on experiencing the greatest love that has ever been shown to any man--the love of God for you.

# Devotion 3: God is opposed to the proud - James 4:6
 
**James 4:6–8**  
**6** But He gives a greater grace. Therefore _it_ says, “God is opposed to the proud, but gives grace to the humble.”  
**7** Submit therefore to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you.  
**8** Draw near to God and He will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners; and purify your hearts, you double-minded.
 
This verse really says something about whose side God is on. It says that God is against those who are proud. He's on the side of those who are humble.
 
So what does it mean to be proud? Is it possible that you are proud? You might think of someone who is proud as someone with their nose up in the air. They think really highly of themselves--they're the best at everything and they "know" it.
 
How do you think someone who is proud would react when God tells them that they are not the best, they are not even almost the best, but they are sinners who need a savior? I guess they probably wouldn't believe it, would they?
 
You can leave camp today being proud or being humble. Depending on how you leave, God will either be opposed to you or be giving grace to you. I plead with you to go in humility, having trusted Christ as your savior, abandoning your pride, receiving grace from the Father.