Daily Readings at Southeast

Day 2: Overweight Physically and Underweight Spiritually  My journey to healthy eating didn’t gain traction by counting calories or obeying rules of the food pyramid. The process began in earnest when I admitted that, yes, I was overweight physically. But, more importantly, I was underweight spiritually. I was spiritually malnourished. Tying these two issues together is what opened my eyes to see God in a whole new way.  I’m reminded of the story in the Bible where a rich young man comes to see Jesus. The young man explains that he is following all the religious rules, but still feels something is missing from his pursuit of God. He asks, “What do I still lack?” Jesus answers, “If you want to be perfect [whole], go, sell your possessions and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me” (Matthew 19:20 – 21 NIV).  The rich young man then goes away sad because he won’t give up the one thing that consumes him. He is so full with his riches he ...

  Day 1: Chocolate is my Comfort and Deliverer  God made you wonderful. Psalm 139 says you are wonderfully and fearfully made. You are beautiful and loved, no matter if you’re a size zero or a size thirty. You are beautiful just the way you are. But God loves you so much that He doesn’t want you to stay in a place of defeat.  There was a time when I felt utterly defeated in the area of food and health. I knew that I needed to make changes not because of the number on the scale or what clothing size I was. I knew it because of the battle that raged in my heart. I craved, I desired, I thought about, and arranged my life around food.  Yet I was a Bible teacher. I was a woman who loved Jesus. Why couldn’t I figure this out? I had found victory in so many areas of my life, but this area eluded me. I constantly asked, “Why shouldn’t I indulge?”  One day I looked up the definition of the word indulge, which means “unrestrained action.” And for me, it was unrestrained e...

God Is Our Father Have you ever had a relationship with someone that made you feel special? People with “connections” get special treatment. They might get backstage passes to a concert, access to a VIP lounge with a buffet, or the best seats at a game. Those kinds of associations turn us into somebody, not on our merit, but based on who we know. In the Bible, we are told over and over that when we accept Jesus, we become children of God. In the Bible, we are told over and over that when we accept Jesus, we become children of God. Wow, that is some connection! What other religion or belief system offers adoption by the creator of the world (Romans 8:15-17)? The Bible also says we can cry out to God as “Abba, Father” (Romans 8:15). That is an intimate term that is similar to the word, “Daddy.” If we have God as our daddy, it changes our approach to Him. We go from feeling like terrified slaves of an unknowable God to being children who can run up and sit in His lap to be loved on by and...

God Is Good Psalm 119 declares that God is good and what He does is good (Psalm 119:67). However, we all go through things that make us question God’s goodness.  When you are facing difficult or painful circumstances, you may find yourself asking, “If God is good, why does He allow bad things to happen?” This is a natural response when life is turned upside down. It is hard to sing about a good Father when you’re facing sickness, infertility, or a job loss.  The best way to overcome doubts about God’s goodness is to understand the importance of perspective. Even God’s Son had to face difficult and painful things while on earth. He was tortured and endured a painful, unjust death. However, Jesus’ death and resurrection also made a way for us to be reconciled with God. Through something that seemed bad God was able to do something very good. Sometimes, you will be able to look back at painful seasons and see how God ultimately used them for good. Other times, you will never full...

God Is Self-Sufficient Remember the first time you realized you were pedaling your bicycle on your own? Realizing your mom or dad let go and you don’t need them anymore is freeing. You’re filled with triggers independence and confidence as it sinks in that you are in control. You can pedal wherever you want to go. We can reach this same point in our relationship with our heavenly Father. When things are going well, we cruise around on our own like we don’t need Him — until we hit that speed bump or pothole. In that moment, we’re reminded that we’re still fragile and we’ll always need our Dad.  Unlike us, God really is self-sufficient. All things are His to give. All we have comes from God, and we have nothing to give Him that He has not already given us. God made the world and everything in it (Psalm 24:1). Every good gift is from Him. God doesn’t need palaces or temples. Instead, He chooses to live inside each of us, filling us with His Spirit, the Holy Spirit. God put life a...

God Is Omniscient Remember trying to get away with something as a kid? Grandma was always quick to say, “I may not know, but God knows.”  At some point, you probably wondered, “Does He know everything?”  The answer is yes, He does. God is omniscient or all-knowing. He has infinite awareness, understanding, and insight.  Psalm 139 starts, “You have searched me Lord, and You know me.” That word “know” in the Hebrew is “yada,” which means to know, to perceive, to recognize, to consider. It appears more than 900 times in the Old Testament.    Psalm 139 reminds us that God knows our words before we speak (Psalm 139:4). God knew us before we were born (Psalm 139:13, Jeremiah 1:5). He knows our hearts, and He knows our concerns (Psalm 139:23, Jeremiah 12:3). He knows everything.  God knows every sinful thought and action I have ever had or will have. That may seem terrifying, but it’s actually freeing. God knows everything you’ve done, yet He still loves you. He s...

God Is Sovereign Whether we win the lottery or spend our last $5 on the burger in front of us, we choose to trust in a sovereign God. We trust because God is a good Father who gives good gifts to His kids. Because He promises to work all things together for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to His purpose (Romans 8:28). God is above all, orchestrating every detail of our lives every moment of every day. Knowing God is sovereign means we can trust Him regardless of our circumstances. John Piper once said, “God is always at work doing hundreds of thousands of things at once… He may show us one.”  Sometimes, the Lord gives us a glimpse of the bigger picture but He does not have to. In Job 38, God reminds Job and his friends why He doesn’t have to explain himself. He asks them, “Where were you when I laid the earth’s foundation? Tell me, if you understand. Have you ever given orders to the morning, or shown the dawn its place?”  When we don’t feel the ...

God Is Our Comforter The doctor walks in with a pained face and a positive cancer diagnosis. A policeman knocks on the door to deliver news no parent ever wants to hear. Someone who promised never to leave walks out. A rejection letter crushes future plans. We all need comfort sometimes. Pain, heartache, and tragedy are everywhere. There is no physical way to escape it. But we are not stuck, doomed to waiting for the next blow because we serve a God who is the Father of all compassion and comfort. In 2 Corinthians 1:3-4, Paul speaks from his own tragic experiences about the power of God’s comfort. Paul was no stranger to hardship. He experienced immense suffering that should have broken him. But he knew where to run during hard times, and he testified time and time again to the faithfulness and reality of God’s comforting arms.  Not only did Paul’s life show what it looks like to receive supernatural compassion, he showed how that same compassion overflows to others. Paul devoted h...

God Is Full Of Grace Grace can be a tough concept to grasp. God is often described as gracious, but what does that mean for us? We sing about it, we read about it, and we talk about it. But do we understand it? Many of us operate under the assumption that God’s grace is like human grace — imperfect, exchange-based, reactive, and subject to change. We feel the pressure to earn grace, and we have an enemy who wants to keep it that way.  Grace is a gift, purchased by Jesus’ death on the cross and given to us freely out of God’s love for us. But the Bible is clear that grace is a gift, purchased by Jesus’ death on the cross and given to us freely out of God’s love for us. God’s grace, His undeserved favor, is not a reward for human effort. God’s grace is based entirely on who He is and who we are in Him.  God gives us grace because He wants to. By grace, we are adopted into His family, our debts paid and our sin forgiven. It is His pleasure and will to give us these things when we...

God Is Wrathful (And That’s A Good Thing) We don’t like to think about God’s wrath. “Wrath” makes us think of uncontrolled tempers and impending punishments. It’s difficult to associate that word with the heavenly Father who loves us completely. But it’s precisely because God loves us that He feels wrath. Unlike human wrath, God’s punishment is holy because it is never the result of a bad temper. He is never out of control. God’s anger is against sin and evil because sin destroys us and keeps us separated from Him. We don’t want a god who isn’t against sin and evil. Only a God who loves us could hate sin so much He would do whatever it took to rescue us from it (Ephesians 2:1-4). Every human being, until the Holy Spirit changes them, is an enemy of God. The Bible says God is patient with us, even when we resist Him, because He wants everyone to be saved (Romans 9:22-23). Every human being, until the Holy Spirit changes them, is an enemy of God (Romans 8:7-8). We hate Him because we wan...

God Is Merciful “Today is a good day for a good day” has become a popular phrase recently. It might seem cliche. But cliches are cliche because they are true. God’s mercy is new every morning (Lamentations 3:23). Each day, God reveals His mercy to us in a way that we haven't ever experienced before. When we wake up, we have a decision to make. We can embrace God’s mercy and choose to have a good day. Or, we can dwell on yesterday’s sin and struggles, and choose to have a bad day. God is merciful. God’s merciful compassion is infinite and inexhaustible. God demonstrated His mercifulness by sending Jesus to take the judgment that was rightfully ours. God waits and works now for all people to turn to Jesus and to live under His justification (2 Peter 3:9). Each day, we wake up anew and we start fresh. It doesn't matter what we did yesterday, God’s mercy is available to us today. We have been given a clean slate. The question is what will you do with it? Reflect: Is there an area o...

God Is Infinite Imagine yourself on a sandy white beach, ankle-deep in crystal blue ocean water with a teaspoon in your hand. Now fill the teaspoon with the water. Look at the finite amount of water in the teaspoon. Look at the infinite span that is the ocean. The difference between the water in the teaspoon and the water in the ocean comes about as close as we can to understanding who we are compared to who God is, what we know compared to what God knows, what we can do compared to what He can do. God’s understanding is infinite. Nothing has ever surprised God or occurred to Him. The solution to our problem exists before we even have the problem. God knows everything past, present, and future. The depth of His power and resources can not be measured — neither can the depth of His love, which was revealed to us through Jesus’ death and resurrection. For who He is and what He does, Paul praises God. John marvels in 1 John 3:1, “How great is the love the Father has lavished on us, that w...

God Is Love Our culture is obsessed with love. Romance novels and movies teach us that love should make us feel good and we should do whatever it takes — even if it’s wrong — to get it. But sex-crazed passion isn’t all there is to love — if that’s even love at all. When the New Testament was translated from Greek, at least four words were translated as love: storge (liking someone through the fondness of familiarity), philia (the love between friends), eros (the sense of 'being in love'), agape (unconditional 'God' love). With so many emotions wrapped up in one word, it’s easy to see how the idea of love can be misconstrued. In a letter to early Christians, John, one of Jesus’ closest friends, gives us a better way to understand love. 1 John 4:8 says, “God is love.” Love is not something God does; it’s who He is. God is the source of our ability to love. And when we look to God as the standard of what loving looks like, it changes how we treat each other.   God’s love i...