A Counterfeit Home
“At night across the mountains when darkness falls and the winds sweep down out of the hollows, the wild things with their shiny eyes come to the edge of the clearing. At such an hour the house seems safe and warm, an island of light and love in a sea of darkness….the vision of a mother’s face, a father’s deep voice, the aroma of fresh baked bread, sunshine in a window, the muted sounds of rain on a roof…the cry of a newborn babe, and voices calling ‘goodnight.’ Home, an island, a refuge, a haven of love.”
This excerpt of Home was John Boy’s epilogue of Season 1, Episode 15, “The Actress,” from The Waltons (affiliate links). These words evoke such peace to me! John Boy and the Waltons are fiction, but they were based on some truth from Earl Hamner’s life.
I used to watch a lot of old t.v. shows searching for that feeling of peace. I believe that many of the “old” shows are so beloved as we age (even when we didn’t watch them as kids) because they present an aspect of God’s TRUTH. And TRUTH = PEACE. While we can learn things from shows and books, we cannot live the show, and once the set is off it is back to real life. The life we have created.
Did you know that satan has a counterfeit for almost everything God has given to us?
The world (satan) tells us:
- that marriage isn’t necessary,
- that women are better off working away from home,
- that children are a burden,
- that debt is good,
- that all roads lead to heaven,
- that you aren’t good enough,
- that you must have the perfect home to be happy,
- that you need to empty your mind,
- to avoid negativity to create ‘good energy,’ and
- to pamper your divine Self…
But what does the Holy Bible, God’s Word, tell us? The exact opposite!
Look around you – look for counterfeits masquerading as truth in your life. They will look good on the surface…but the item or relationship or situation will not work…there will be a niggling little doubt in your mind…because it is God’s gift TWISTED. There will be just enough truth to look good. But at the end there is a twist like a knife that will sever, instead of strengthen, your God-given relationship.
Counterfeit money looks like the real thing on the surface – but it doesn’t spend the same way with people who know the truth.
Living together is a counterfeit marriage. Your marriage has been stolen from you! Living together is play-acting. I know. I did it years ago and I regret it. It was one of the biggest mistakes of my life. If we had gotten married, we’d have had a better chance. Instead, we chose a counterfeit relationship. No one expected this counterfeit to last, and it didn’t. We had no support, and we certainly didn’t have God’s blessing.
Day care is a counterfeit home environment. Harsh, but true. Sometimes necessary, as when one spouse has died, but it is no longer a last resort, as with all previous generations. Don’t for one minute believe the LIE that daycare is best for your children! Every day your child is away from your care and training, is a day stolen from your love and guidance. Every child becomes like his teacher. Don’t you want to be that teacher? Children are a blessing! Don’t miss the blessing of raising them yourself!
Yoga is counterfeit worship. Did you know that every single Yoga pose is a posture of worship to the many different Hindu gods? Therefore, Yoga is idolatry. Remember the first two of the 10 Commandments?
You must not have any other god but me.
You must not make for yourself an idol of any kind or an image of anything in the heavens or on the earth or in the sea. You must not bow down to them or worship them, for I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God who will not tolerate your affection for any other gods.
It is not just stretching! In Yoga you are also taught to empty your mind to meditate. Satan loves an empty mind! But God’s Word tells us to FILL our minds by meditating on HIS WORD. Psalm 119:11 says, “Thy word have I hid in mine heart, that I might not sin against thee,” and Psalm 19:14 says, “Let the words of my mouth, and the meditation of my heart, be acceptable in thy sight, O Lord, my strength, and my redeemer.” 1 Cor. 10:19-21 tells us, “What am I trying to say? Am I saying that food offered to idols has some significance, or that idols are real gods? No, not at all. I am saying that these sacrifices are offered to demons, not to God. And I don’t want you to participate with demons. You cannot drink from the cup of the Lord and from the cup of demons, too. You cannot eat at the Lord’s Table and at the table of demons, too.”
Magazines and advertisements of organized closets and perfect homes are a counterfeit reality. There are only four outfits in the closets, and the make-believe child only owns three old-fashioned toys. No one lives in these homes! We do not have to be perfectly organized, with every room beautiful and sparkling clean. We do not need matching furniture, or a house with a view. We just need to care for the home we live in right now. Are you creating a home, or are you longing for that counterfeit reality?
How many hours do you spend watching HGTV instead of just simply cleaning and clearing out the space you currently live in? We say the shows inspire, but when we become discontent with what we have, and especially when we go into debt to fix-up a house that the bank is the real owner of, we are living in that unattainable, covetous, counterfeit reality. Has your peaceful home environment been stolen by discontentment?
Has your sanity been stolen by the lie of constantly fighting back at everyone around you? Does the way you live, act, and react create chaos around you?
Has common sense been stolen from you by your college professors? After I graduated I gradually realized over the years that my professors were wrong about almost everything. Find out the truth for yourself. Don’t be like people who rush to judgment. Study both sides before making a decision.
Has your mind been stolen by the many lies of the world? There are too many to name. What does the Bible say about how you are living? About what you think about, spend your time on, and where you spend your money? Type in key words to Biblegateway.com and see what the Bible says about a subject.
Has your peace been stolen by the lie of idolatry? You may think you aren’t worshiping any idols, but what do you obsess upon? What do you love? Where do you spend your time and money?
- Are you too busy?
- Are you doing the necessary things that really matter in your family?
- Are you really loving on your children?
- Are you showing your husband you love and appreciate him daily?
- Do you play board games and hide n’ seek with your children?
- Are you reading to them for at least an hour a day?
- Do you read the Bible with or to your family to share the truth with them?
- Are you modeling worship and prayer with them?
Are you aware that God is seeking our worship? And not just on Sundays, but every day. At home. Many people are overly busy to try and cover up the pain of their life because they haven’t given themselves over to Jesus Christ. (See 2 Cor. 5:14-21 below)
Has your life been stolen by the lie of more money? How you spend your time IS your life. When we are single we have to work to care for ourselves and our children. When we are married and our husbands work there are hundreds of ways to cut expenses and live on one income so that you can raise your children yourself. When will you say “enough!”?
This will ring TRUTH for some. I know, because for many of these, someone had to suggest to me I might be living in Satan’s counterfeit plan. I looked good on the surface…but I didn’t have God’s peace.
Ask God to open your eyes to Satan’s lies in your life…and to open your eyes to HIS TRUTH. Amazing things can happen!
The riveting book “Stormie” by Stormie Omartian was my first glimpse into taking a critical look at the life I had created and weeding out all of Satan’s lies.
Stormie talked about taking a look at all of the items in her home that were idols or offensive to God, and she threw them out. I put down her book and took a look at my own home. I was keeping pagan man-made gods in my home because they were a gift! They were on my dishtowels, decorative wall masks, decorative trays, pictures in books, calendars and postcards. I didn’t even like them, but kept them out of guilt because they were a gift. When I rid my home of these items, I then went through my music albums. Then movies. Then books. When that was done I was able to take a look at what I did with my time.
We are all prone to Satan’s counterfeits. There’s an old saying that if he can’t make you sin, he’ll make you busy. We all fight it.
I pray that you will right now, take a look around your house and at how you spend your time alone, with your children, and with your husband, and ask for God to show you His truth, to take any blinders off your eyes so you can live in peace and truth. We all need to do this periodically.
May God bless you as you bring order and harmony to your home, and walk with Him!
Janine
2 Corinthians 5:14-21 (NLT):
14 Either way, Christ’s love controls us. Since we believe that Christ died for all, we also believe that we have all died to our old life. 15 He died for everyone so that those who receive his new life will no longer live for themselves. Instead, they will live for Christ, who died and was raised for them.
16 So we have stopped evaluating others from a human point of view. At one time we thought of Christ merely from a human point of view. How differently we know him now! 17 This means that anyone who belongs to Christ has become a new person. The old life is gone; a new life has begun!
18 And all of this is a gift from God, who brought us back to himself through Christ. And God has given us this task of reconciling people to him. 19 For God was in Christ, reconciling the world to himself, no longer counting people’s sins against them. And he gave us this wonderful message of reconciliation. 20 So we are Christ’s ambassadors; God is making his appeal through us. We speak for Christ when we plead, “Come back to God!” 21 For God made Christ, who never sinned, to be the offering for our sin, so that we could be made right with God through Christ.
The picture of the Waltons counterfeit home at the top of this post is from the website allaboutthewaltons.com.
For a picture of the real Walton’s house (The Hamner House) in Schuyler, VA click this link to take you to TripAdvisor. This photo of Walton’s Mountain Museum is courtesy of TripAdvisor.
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