A Worth That Doesn’t Spill Over

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places, even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him. In love he predestined us for adoption to himself as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will,

Ephesians 1:3-5

Our family lived in an RV for three years. We didn’t have a lot of the conveniences that we had while living in the house. My kids, who had to wash every dish by hand, desperately missed having a dishwasher. Our refrigerator did not come with an automatic ice machine. We had to make ice the old-school way. We filled up a tray with tap water and placed it carefully on top of the shelf or strategically balanced it on the bags of veggies making sure wasn’t disturbed until it was completely frozen. 

We had many instances where the hands of an energetic boy would slosh the tray around too much before it reached the freezer and the water would pour out over the sides and onto the floor. The tray would reach the freezer half filled just to get knocked over by the next child who thought the cubes were frozen when reaching for a popsicle and tipped the plastic ice tray over spilling chilled water all over the frozen bags of meat and veggies. 

Truth be told, I felt a lot like that ice tray most of my life.

I allowed myself to be filled up with the value I had placed in this world. One cube was filled with worth from my husband. One cube was the worth I felt from having prestigious assets. Another cube filled with the worth I felt I was getting from my image. Another cube was filled with worth by having a certain number of social media followers. Another was filled with worth from my job, being a homeschooling mom, or positions I held. 

But time and time again my world would shake like the energetic hands of my boys. A marital problem would slosh the worth right out of the tray and onto the floor. A position lost would splash my worth onto a ground that was all too eager to soak it up. When I would see another mom doing it much better than I was the tray would shake and out would flow my worth until I would finally hide away, empty of everything I thought I was, broken and longing to be filled back up again.

But that’s what happens when we fill our lives with the worth that this world has to offer.

It doesn’t satisfy.

It doesn’t stay in the tray.

It moves as the world moves and it shifts as others around us shift.

It’s uncertain and wavering.

We are always running back to the faucet to refill because we can never seem to make it to our end goal of true worth.

When we root our worth in the opinion of others instead of the unwavering opinion of God we are left always striving and always half empty. The water poured in the tray by my children longed to be what it was intended to be, a completely frozen ice cube unable to be sloshed about… unshakeable. When we understand our true identity in Christ and how valued we are to Him we are left as sturdy and sure in our worth as the filled tray left to fully form into crystalized cubes. We pour ourselves into knowing Him, letting Him fill us with our identity. We bask in His presence as we learn about just how much we are of worth to Him until we become unshakeable and able to withstand anything this world would attempt to do to take away that confidence.

If I dropped a pebble inside one of the cubes on the tray before it was fully formed it would sink directly into the water easily displacing the H20 and taking room it was never intended to take. But, if I tried to do the same thing to the frozen ice cube the pebble would bounce off the top and fall to the floor. I love that description when I relate that to who we are in Christ. It won’t matter what comes your way or what threatens to tell you who you are not. If you are in Christ and you truly believe you are who He says you are, those unkind words, rejections, and losses will tumble to the ground because they cannot displace who You are to God.

We know we are of worth because our salvation came at a high cost, His Son. Let God fill you up today and allow you to be the woman God intended you to be.

I have said these things to you, that in me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world.” – John 16:33