The Mirror of the Word: A Daily Devotional Podcast from 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.

“As the deer pants for the water brooks, so my soul pants for you, God. My soul thirsts for God, for the living God; when shall I come and appear before God?”

—Psalm 42:1–2

When a deer is thirsty, it knows to go to the water. But it doesn’t drink from just any source; it finds the flowing water—the living water. It instinctively knows that the moving water is fresh and safe. The deer will only drink from a stagnant pond—potentially full of dangerous bacteria or algae—if it’s the last option.

Our human instincts aren’t quite as good. We frequently find ourselves drinking from the stagnant pools of this world rather than water that flows from our living God.

We drink and drink the tainted water and wonder why we’re thirsty and ill. The voices of the world tell us we simply haven’t drunk enough or we need to try a different pond, so we attempt to quench our heart’s desire with more and different worldly things. Satan is just as happy if we drink from the worldly pond of pride or deceitful riches as he is to keep us at the pool of lust or addiction.

But the more we drink from the world, the more our thirst increases; the less satisfied we become. We’re poisoning ourselves—sometimes slowly and sometimes fast. Anything other than the overflowing fountain of Jesus Christ will do its deadly work in the end. 

When our souls pant from thirst, nothing but the true life–giving nourishment of Christ will do. He’s the only source of the spiritual refreshment that will sustain us, and as we come to him, the living water of the Holy Spirit will flow through us and nourish those around us as well.

The post December 11-When the Soul Thirsts 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.

“Each of us is to please his neighbor for his good, to his edification. For even Christ did not please himself.”

—Romans 15:2–3

Most of us spend a lot of time trying to figure out how to make ourselves happy. We may put our desires aside for a time, but there’s often still a voice whispering, “I’ll get back to doing what I want later, so it’s okay temporarily.”

But when the “temporary” extends longer than we’d hoped, our desires start rearing their ugly heads. We get annoyed about how long this “pleasing and edifying my neighbor” is taking rather than getting our own time for whatever seems pleasing and edifying to us.

But if we would put off our desires for good in favor of following the Lord’s leading in our lives, how much happier and freer we would be! For “what is the source of quarrels and conflicts among you? Is the source not your pleasures that wage war in your body’s parts?” (James 4:1).

Putting our desires aside is, in the end, freedom from the sins that so easily plague us. When we do so, we finally find that running this race with endurance is worth the joy set before us—eternity with the Lord (Hebrews 12:1–2).

We are also typically quite bad at knowing what will bring us true and lasting joy; setting aside our own desires leaves us open to all the unexpected, beautiful places God wants us to go.

Putting the edification of others for their good above our own wants in favor of the Lord’s direction is the path to peace and, ultimately, to more purpose and joy than chasing our desires ever could provide.

The post December 10-Beyond My Desires 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.

“For the vision is yet for the appointed time; it hurries toward the goal, and it will not fail. Though it delays, wait for it; for it will certainly come, it will not delay long.” 

—Habakkuk 2:3

God gives us all good works to do in this lifetime (Ephesians 2:10). Some of those good works are simply living life where we are with faithful integrity, showing others the work of the Spirit in us, and making disciples of those around us.

But sometimes it feels a bit bigger than that; God gives us a hint or a vision of something that seems beyond us.

And sometimes we’re tempted to make that vision come to fruition by our own efforts . . . like Moses trying to free the Israelites by his own strength and being exiled from Egypt or like Abraham and Sarah making their own plan about how to get a son. They did get a son, but he was not the promised son.

God’s way had Moses shepherding in the wilderness as a nobody for forty years. It had Abraham and Sarah childless for twenty–five years after the promise.

If God calls us to something big and he hasn’t shown us the way to accomplish it, proceeding according to our own human efforts will always lead to disaster rather than fulfillment.

In the end, Moses freed the Israelites with miracles he never could have performed without God’s power. Abraham and Sarah had a child after it was beyond the realm of possibility according to all human standards.

If God gives a way forward, we move in it. If he doesn’t, we keep praying about that vision and trusting that God has given it an appointed time in which he will bring it to pass.

The post December 9-The Appointed Time 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.

“Therefore, if you have been raised with Christ, keep seeking the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on the things that are above, not on the things that are on earth. For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God.” 

—Colossians 3:1–3

It’s so easy to set our minds on the things on earth. We can see them, and they require our immediate attention.

We often think that setting our minds on things above looks like staring whimsically into the clouds or spending all day in prayer, but God is also clear that we are to serve and do our work on this earth with integrity. 

So what this really looks like is keeping our hope, desires, and purpose on the things above while yet keeping our hands to the daily work that duty requires of us.

To do this, we must die to our flesh (Romans 8:13) and perform our earthly duties with heavenly intent—in the power of the Holy Spirit and trusting that no matter how unspiritual the task, we can do it while displaying his fruit.

When we’re tempted to set our energy and emotions on the things of this world, may we remember that we’re already dead, and ask ourselves if those things matter in the life we live above with Christ.

We can put our earthly wants aside and make our lives about abiding in Christ in the day–to–day for the purpose of bringing him glory and showing him to others.

The post December 8-Heaven on Our Minds 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.

“But when Simon Peter saw this, he fell down at Jesus’ knees, saying, ‘Go away from me, Lord, for I am a sinful man!’ For amazement had seized him and all his companions because of the catch of fish which they had taken; and likewise also were James and John, sons of Zebedee, who were partners with Simon. And Jesus said to Simon, ‘Do not fear; from now on you will be catching people.’ When they had brought their boats to land, they left everything and followed him.”

—Luke 5:8–11

When Peter saw Jesus’s greatness, he knew he wasn’t worthy to be in Jesus’s presence.

Imagine Peter’s surprise when Jesus didn’t shun him, but instead invited him to join the greatest mission of all.

The understanding that we are not worthy—that the Lord’s forgiveness is undeserved—is part of the truth of the Gospel. It’s not a reason to hide or run away from him; it’s a reason to follow. We’re transformed into his image as we believe and live our belief out in obedience (1 John 2:6).

When we come to Jesus in repentance, all our sinfulness is washed away, and we have the indwelling of the Holy Spirit.

Then we must follow as the disciples did—willing to abandon all else as the disciples did if he requires it.

When we’re humble before him, he will always say, “Don’t be afraid; follow me.”

He will give us a purpose and an eternal mission, and he’s worth infinitely more than anything we could ever leave behind.

The post December 7-Because He Called 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.

“I will most gladly spend and be expended for your souls.” 

—2 Corinthians 12:15

Paul echoes this statement again in Philippians 2:17: “But even if I am being poured out as a drink offering upon the sacrifice and service of your faith, I rejoice and share my joy with you all.”

Just like Jesus, Paul laid his life down willingly to bring others to God. This is just one example that it was not only for Jesus to sacrifice for the kingdom of God, but for all of us as fellow heirs with Christ (Romans 8:17).

That will look different for each of us. Whatever life the Lord has given us, we’re called to lay it down. “We know love by this, that he laid down his life for us; and we ought to lay down our lives for the brothers and sisters. But whoever has worldly goods and sees his brother or sister in need, and closes his heart against him, how does the love of God remain in him? Little children, let’s not love with word or with tongue, but in deed and truth” (1 John 3:16–18).

This doesn’t mean we will do everything anyone asks or expects of us, but it does mean if we’re walking in the Spirit, we will give willingly where the Lord leads. We will gladly “spend and be expended,” whether in our time, finances, emotion, or physical effort. 

This life is not about what we can get out of it, but about what we can pour into others for the sake of the Gospel. 

The post December 6-Giving Gladly 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.

“She said to him, ‘Sir, you have no bucket and the well is deep; where then do you get this living water?’”

—John 4:11

Jesus was thirsty and had no bucket, but he was offering the Samaritan woman water that would quench her soul’s thirst forever.

From the woman’s perspective, she was better off than Jesus was; she held a bucket in her hands while he had nothing. How did he expect to give her any water at all?

But the living water Christ offered the Samaritan woman was himself—the very same living water each of us draws from the well of the Holy Spirit.

And we can also dip into this well to share Christ with others no matter our earthly circumstance.

Other people may have more earthly tools than we do—more money or talent, more intelligence or education, more beauty or time, more opportunities or health, more interpersonal skills or fame—but friends, if they don’t have Jesus, we should be the one offering them something.

They might look at us puzzled—how could we offer them something when our hands are empty?

But the soul’s well is too deep for them; no earthly bucket can reach the water it needs. The Samaritan woman had tried bucket after bucket of relationship—five husbands and counting—and her heart was still unsatisfied. The richest man could fill buckets to the brim, but without Christ, he would be a pauper compared to the humblest believer.

We might lack compared to others in this life, but we can offer them the wealth of eternal living water that is Christ instead of pining after their temporary advantages. Those will all count for nothing the moment our souls are required of us.

The post December 5-Living Water in Empty Hands 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.

“Then on the seventh day they got up early at the dawning of the day and marched around the city in the same way seven times; only on that day did they march around the city seven times.”

—Joshua 6:15

Sometimes the Lord asks us to do things that don’t make sense in any earthly way. 

“March around the city every day? What’s that going to do?”

I’m sure they all had questions. Not only that, but they were supposed to do it seven days in a row—seven days during which the people inside the walls of Jericho were likely mocking them, maybe even throwing things at them, and certainly laughing at the ridiculous display which seemed to have no purpose.

Our reaction to this kind of treatment is often to think, “This can’t be what God meant. It doesn’t make any sense, and I look like a fool.”

God had told them to do it each day, but on the seventh day, to do it seven times. By this point, they were probably tired, confused, and a little worried that nothing was going to happen. But they didn’t let their lack of understanding stop them. They continued faithfully in what God had called them to do.

When we’ve followed the Lord into battles we don’t understand, we don’t have to cower in insecurity when opposition comes. We can trust that the Lord has reasons even when we can’t see them. If the Lord asks us to walk in circles that seem to have no purpose, and it looks crazy to outsiders, let’s obey him instead of our doubts or the world’s jeers.

The post December 4-Faith in the Circles 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.

“He has made everything appropriate in its time.”

—Ecclesiastes 3:11

“In its time” is such an important phrase to consider. Each thing has an appropriate, appointed time.

Some trees flower before they have any leaves; some grow the leaves first. Some bushes have flowers for months, and some bloom once for mere days each season.

The largest flower in the world only blooms once approximately every forty years. There’s another that can take one–hundred years to bloom, then it dies.

This is just one reason why comparison is never helpful.

We can’t say the flower that blooms once every forty years is a failure. We can’t say that the flower that blooms once a year for a few days is incompetent.

They are each different and uniquely beautiful.

In the same way, one person may seem to have an evergreen career and enjoy win after win. Others may experience success several notable times in their lives. But some people will be the flower that blooms once in forty or one–hundred years, and that is not a failure. That is God’s ordained purpose.

We seem to think that we should all be on the same track—college, career, family, steady finances, good health. But God has different timelines, different paths, and different purposes for each of us. Each “blooming” will look different.

If you feel that your life has not blossomed the way you hoped, hang on. God will make it appropriate—some versions say “beautiful”—in its time.

The post December 3-The Wait Is Not Wasted 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.

“He must increase, but I must decrease.” 

—John 3:30

Most of the time when we’re discouraged, it’s because we’re worried about our own increase . . . perhaps in reputation, finances, relationship goals, personal betterment, or success.

We want to see that we matter and that what we do matters, and we tend to gauge that by numbers. Is our bank account growing? How many people seem to be appreciating, noticing, or responding to what we do? Do we have as many friends as so–and–so? Are we getting more followers?

But this is all about our increase. We are checking our worth by worldly standards.

All those things are nice if they happen, but when they become the goal, we have things backwards.

The Lord never says, “Make sure you are very successful in your life and endeavors. That’s what glorifies me.”

He repeatedly says things like, “The last shall be first” (Matthew 20:16), “whoever wants to become prominent among you shall be your servant” (Matthew 20:26), and “the one who humbles himself will be exalted” (Luke 14:11).

When we decrease, this is no cause for concern, because it’s not about us. And according to the Word, doing what he has for us might look very much like being a nobody in a worldly sense.

And this is actually freeing. We don’t have to seek to get our dues or be noticed. We don’t have to scramble to make an impact.

We can simply quietly serve the Lord, abide in him (John 15), grow in knowledge and discernment (Philippians 1:9), and trust that we are living in his will. If that brings our increase, it isn’t wrong, but our own increase should never be the goal.

The post December 2-Making Room for Him appeared first on C. E. White.