The Mirror of the Word and other works by C.E. White can be purchased on her website, cewhitebooks.com or on Amazon.

“Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be satisfied.”

—Matthew 5:6

We long to be satisfied. Growing up, I remember saying, “I don’t know what I want to be; I just want to be happy.”

But we’re usually quite bad at knowing what will truly make us happy, and many of us spend years chasing one thing after another grasping for it.

If we could change that statement to, “I don’t know what I want to be; I only want to be righteous,” our satisfaction and success would be guaranteed.

To seek happiness itself might lead to all sorts of selfishness and debauchery. If we all sought righteousness, we would not only be reaching out to the source of satisfaction and good but helping ensure the satisfaction and good of others.

Righteousness leads to placing others’ needs above our own. It keeps us from oppressing the weak and compels us to help them instead.

To hunger and thirst after righteousness is to hunger and thirst after God. He tells us over and over that he will satisfy (Psalm 73:25–26), provide for (Psalm 81:10), protect (Deuteronomy 3:22), and give us more than we need so that we can also reveal his goodness and satisfaction to others (Luke 6:38).

If we all hungered and thirsted for righteousness the way many of us hunger and thirst for happiness, think of the satisfaction that would spread like a wildfire throughout the world! True joy would be the byproduct.

Our souls would be satisfied in watching God’s plan and purpose come to fruition in our own lives and the lives of those around us.

The post December 15-Where True Joy Comes From appeared first on C. E. White.

The Mirror of the Word and other works by C.E. White can be purchased on her website, cewhitebooks.com or on Amazon.

“Because of the extraordinary greatness of the revelations, for this reason, to keep me from exalting myself, there was given to me a thorn in the flesh, a messenger of Satan to torment me—to keep me from exalting myself!”

—2 Corinthians 12:7

Paul had a lot of abilities, experiences, and wisdom that could’ve made him prone to self–importance—not the least being his miraculous conversion on the road to Damascus. Can’t you imagine that many pastors in our day would use such a story to build their entire platform and would expect special treatment because of it?

Paul knew that was a danger for him. He was smart, educated, and raised to know the law and the existing Scriptures intimately. He’d been a rising star within the Pharisees before the Lord appeared to him personally. He had many reasons to be arrogant.

But God gave him this thorn in the flesh to keep him humble. We don’t know what it was, and it doesn’t matter. The point is that sometimes there’s a struggle the Lord allows to remain in our lives because he cares more about our character than our comfort.

If giving us what we want or taking a difficulty from us would cause us to become self–righteous, selfish, or anything harmful to Christ’s character in us, the Lord will keep us right where we are.

We can pray that our struggles are removed, but even if they’re not, perhaps the Lord will reveal how they’re growing us in the Holy Spirit and keeping us on his path. Either way, we can trust that all our trials will work something good in and through us when we love and follow the Lord in the midst of them.

The post December 14-Grace That Hurts appeared first on C. E. White.

The Mirror of the Word and other works by C.E. White can be purchased on her website, cewhitebooks.com or on Amazon.

“Come now, you who say, ‘Today or tomorrow we will go to such and such a city, and spend a year there, and engage in business, and make a profit.’ Yet you do not know what your life will be like tomorrow. For you are just a vapor that appears for a little while, and then vanishes away. Instead, you ought to say, ‘If the Lord wills, we will live and also do this or that.’”

—James 4:13–15

This verse doesn’t mean we must include the words “if the Lord wills” in front of every sentence. It’s a matter of having a heart listening to the Holy Spirit—one that is not boastful or set on its own plans but is humble and willing to accept a new path as God leads.

Every goal we make in life should be held with open hands, with the attitude of “your will be done, Lord,” and with acceptance if what he has for us is different than what we hope.

It’s okay to plan, hope, and have desires, but we must add—as Jesus did—the “nevertheless, not my will but yours” (Luke 22:42) to all of those.

If we resist what God has for us or grow bitter when our plans or hopes don’t come to fruition, we have made ourselves, our desires, and the things of this world into a god. Our culture may not have many idols carved from stone or wood, but there are many things we put in front of our desire for the Lord’s will.

Let’s live the life God gives us moment by moment instead of dwelling on the what–ifs, the might’ve–beens, or the should’ve–beens.

The post December 13-Holding My Plans Loosely appeared first on C. E. White.