Daily Bible Readings - Term 1 Week 2

Week 2: What Is God Like, and Is There Only One?

Last week asked who we are. This week turns the question around: who is God?

The theology readings move from a burning bush to a baptism, and the story follows Mary and Joseph on the road, carrying a child into a world that doesn't yet know who he is.

This week's readings:

30 Second Theology — "What is God like?" (Exodus 3) and "Is there only one God?" (Mark 1:10–11)

The Greatest Story Ever Told — "The Journey" and "The Outcasts"

Day 1 — What Is God Like?

Reading: 30 Second Theology, "What is God like?" (Exodus 3)

God meets Moses not in a temple but in a bush that burns and isn't consumed, and introduces himself with a name that means "I am." God isn't a distant idea, he's a presence that speaks, calls, and sends.

Journal prompt: If someone asked me to describe God based only on how I've treated him this week, what would they hear?

Prayer: God, thank you for revealing yourself to Moses and for revealing yourself to me. Help me see you clearly today, not as I imagine you, but as you actually are.

Day 2 — Is There Only One God?

Reading: 30 Second Theology, "Is there only one God?" (Mark 1:10–11)

At Jesus' baptism, the Father speaks, the Son rises from the water, and the Spirit descends, one God, three persons, all present in a single moment.

Journal prompt: What's one part of who God is, Father, Son, or Spirit, that I tend to think about the least, and why?

Prayer: Father, Son, and Spirit, thank you for showing me who you are at the very start of Jesus' ministry. Help me know you more fully this week.

Day 3 — The Journey

Reading: The Greatest Story Ever Told, "The Journey"

Mary and Joseph travel toward Bethlehem carrying more than a child, they're carrying a promise, with no guarantee of how it will unfold.

Journal prompt: Where am I on a "journey" right now where I can't see the ending, and what would it look like to trust God with it anyway?

Prayer: Lord, thank you for Mary and Joseph's obedience on a hard road. Give me the same trust for whatever road I'm on this week.

Day 4 — The Outcasts

Reading: The Greatest Story Ever Told, "The Outcasts"

The first people to hear the news of Jesus' birth aren't royalty or religious leaders, they're shepherds, people on the margins. From the very beginning, this story makes room for the overlooked.

Journal prompt: Who around me might feel like an outsider, and what would it look like for me to make room for them this week?

Prayer: Jesus, thank you that you came for the overlooked and not just the important. Help me notice and welcome people the way the shepherds were welcomed into your story.

Day 5 — Integration

Reading: No new reading — look back over the week.

This week showed who God is, present, three-in-one, and revealed fully in Jesus, and showed that same God stepping into an ordinary, difficult journey for people who had nothing to offer him.

Journal prompt: This week I read about who God is and watched him show up for outcasts on a hard road. Where do I need to remember that God shows up for people like that, including me?

Prayer: God, thank you for this week. Thank you for showing me who you are and for making room for people like me in your story. Carry that into the week ahead.