The Counterfeit Conspiracy

 In God, Life

My son Joey has a toy McDonald’s cash register, complete with faux items (a plastic Big Mac!) and a faux credit card baring the image of one Ronald McDonald. He happily rings up his orders, oblivious to the cost of his items, because his Ronald Card will take care of the bill. For a brief moment of ill-guided imaginative thinking, I imagine myself grabbing the imposter credit card and running to the mall with it. It isn’t long, though, before the imagined looks of confusion, annoyance, and suspicion I would surely receive from all the cashiers I attempted to use my Ronald McDonald card with stops my imaginary exploration and has me back to just using it to buy fake Chicken McNuggets from Joey.

A counterfeit is defined by the good people at Wikipedia as “…an imitation, usually one that is made with the intent of fraudulently passing it off as genuine.” It’s something that may look, smell, and feel like that which it’s attempting to be, but that in the end, will leave you unsatisfied, because it is not the real thing. You may be able to get along with a counterfeit for a while. You may be able to delude others (you may even be able to delude yourself!) for a while, but in the end, it’s just not it.

One thing that’s become abundantly clear to me as I’ve searched the Scriptures and sought God’s plan for my life, is that everything God does, the enemy has a counterfeit for. This can be as basic as the enemy countering God’s plan for my life/work/mate with a counterfeit of his own, or as monumental as the eschatolgical plan for him to bring his own “Savior” counterfeit in the form of the anit-Christ. The enemy is called the “father of lies” (John 8:44). He longs to see us fall for one of his counterfeits in our quest for the Truth. The problem with his plan, however, is that once you’ve tasted the Real Thing, a counterfeit falls painfully short in quenching the hunger that has formed as it’s result.

Beware of counterfeits today. Know that whatever good things God has for you, the enemy also has a counterfeit set of plans, ready to go, and dying to see you buy into. There is a good plan, and then there’s God’s plan. Only God’s true best will bring you the satisfaction that you crave. Know that you can always test something to see it’s origin of delivery, by noticing the results that lay in its wake: Did it breed confusion or clarity? Was it more helpful or harmful? Did it make you feel oppressed or convicted? Put it to the test today and see if you’re dealing with a counterfeit or the real deal. Good is the enemy of great, and in the end, nothing the enemy can offer you will ever compare to God’s perfect will for your life.

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