Counterfeit

As I survey the world we share it becomes quite evident that things are often not as they would seem. In fact, our modern world is full of counterfeits which give us false impressions of beauty and value and skew our thinking in many important areas of life. Perhaps the biggest culprit is our beloved media, which offers movies, television and music for entertainment and enjoyment. These mediums, however, all proffer false realities and downright fiction that affect every part of our world view. For instance, actors, enhanced by surgery, makeup and special effects give us the impression that everyone should look perfect. The result is a whole generation of people who can never live up to such artificial standards. Thus men and women alike live under the judgment this vicious fallacy. One glance at the tabloids or newspapers, however, confirms that no matter how attractive someone appears on screen they are no better on the inside … and often worse. Beauty really is only skin deep, after all. It is much the same with precious stones and metals. With the right lighting, they all look good to the untrained eye. And so it is with many of the things which surround us.

This principle holds true in the spiritual realm of our lives as well. God has provided us with a world of beauty and blessing, but we continue to trade in the real thing for cheap counterfeits which lack intrinsic and lasting value. As mentioned above, our society sacrifices priceless inner beauty and character for temporal external beauty. We stand in line for food that looks and tastes wonderful, yet is terrible for us. We become addicted to various levels of pornography which cheapen the beauty, function and relationship God meant for us to enjoy with one another. We publicly condone and encourage homosexuality which, in my humble opinion, completely deviates from our intended design. We choose earthly pleasure over eternal righteousness. We trust money for security and happiness. The list goes on and on and, and in every case it’s a compromise. In each instance we settle for something less than God intends for us to enjoy in this world. And when we do so, we’re buying a cheap knock off from he who is the evil opposite of God. In a very real sense, then, God intends us for heaven, but we slowly settle for little bits of hell … until we become utterly accustomed to them.

My hope and prayer for us today is that we shall learn not to settle for anything less than the real thing, as it was originally intended. We live in a world of counterfeits. Yet, wise is the one who has faith enough to trust that God only wants the best for each of us.

Counterfeit
Believers know God has a plan
Yet, there is another plan in play
For the evil one is a counterfeiter
Who leads the weak astray
By imitating the good things
That the Lord prepared for us
Perverting them ever so slightly
So that we misplace our trust
He offers lust instead of love
Twists food with gluttony
Makes our work a quest for wealth
Turns blessings to depravity
He strews our path with idols
Of most every shape and size
Which clamor for attention
From our unsuspecting eyes
Tantalizing all our senses
With countless sugar coated lies
The great deceiver draws us into
His fateful web of compromise
Until we can no longer
Distinguish counterfeit from real
Wooed by his empty promises
With all of their appeal
So those who would be faithful
Must guard their hearts and minds
Against the world’s counterfeits
Lest they awake one day to find
That they have bought the bill of goods
The master counterfeiter sold
And traded all God’s blessings
For idols of mere fool’s gold
By Frank Carpenter ©