Refuse the Counterfeits, Sisters — Carol McLeod Ministries | Find Joy — Carol McLeod Ministries | Find Joy in Your Everyday Life

A Note from Carol: I love giving some of my dearest friends a voice during the summer on my Joy for the Journey blog. Let me introduce you to authors Brittany Maher and Cassandra Speer.

I know they have something rich and wise to share with you, and I hope you will take the time to enjoy this post and soak in their insight. I also hope you will take the time to visit their website at Her True Worth.

Don’t worry … I am still here, and I will be back writing Joy for the Journey at the end of the summer. In the meantime, I am writing a new Bible Study and preparing all sorts of wonderful ministry events for the fall. Blessings and joy!

Looking back, we can clearly see how the lies we believed led us to place our worth in our appearance, define ourselves by our careers, and ultimately take on a counterfeit identity.

You might be asking, How do I know whether I’ve developed a counterfeit identity?

To help answer that question, let’s identify the worldly tools we tend to use to measure our worth:

• Work

• Weight

• How people perceive you

• Money

• Popularity

• Success

• Achievements

• Relationships

• Appearance

• Material things

• Likes on social media

• Followers

• Being desired

The list goes on and on.

It’s true that we can get quick identity boosters from the world. Sure, they make us feel good for a little while. They’re like a credit card with a high interest rate: they require minimal investment on the front end, but over time, the charges add up and the interest on the balance continues to increase. If we live life attaching our identities to these cheap counterfeits, when the bill comes due, we’ll never have enough to pay. But the Enemy doesn’t want us to know this truth. If he can keep us chasing after the world’s measures of worth and value, we’ll never truly be free. Thankfully, our true worth and value is found in Christ, and through him our debt is paid in full.

To see if you’ve misplaced your identity, ask yourself, If God were to take away this thing I identify with tomorrow, how would it affect me? Would I be okay? If the answer to this question is no, you’ve allowed that measurement of worth to become an idol in your life, and it’s a counterfeit identity you need to shed.

So, if we are giving our worship to things like success or relationships, the moment we don’t have those things, we go through an identity crisis. When you use the world’s tools to assess your worth, your measurements will always be off. Just as you can’t measure something with a hammer or pound nails with a measuring tape, you can’t use worldly tools to measure your value and worth. You were never meant to use those tools.

The cross is the ultimate measure of your worth and value. Jesus is the only measuring tool that matters. When you grasp that truth, that’s when you will feel complete in who you are. We must replace lies with the truth of God’s Word.

We’re the first to admit, counterfeits are appealing. Who doesn’t like the way it feels to have what the world considers success and happiness? The trouble with this concept is that the world and the Word are often at odds with each other. Wait, wait, wait. Are we saying that worldly success is evil? No, of course not. But we are saying that striving to achieve what the world considers success is a fruitless ambition. Have that side hustle, but have it in a healthy way.

Sometimes when we take on a counterfeit identity, it’s not always as apparent as we think. That’s why it’s so important to saturate ourselves in the Word of God—so we can use his Word to measure our hearts and see where we need his transforming love to come and clean house.

Having all the things: having the best body, the best car, the best house, the best clothes – none of it can compare to the true freedom found in Christ. It’s an endless pursuit to try and find validation in anything but Christ. It’s like having a bowl of fake fruit on your table. When you have guests come in, they see the shiny fruit, but it’s only to see, not to consume. Artificial fruit looks good enough to eat, but it’s plastic to the core. You can’t offer any real sustenance with the fake fruit.

Speaking of fruit, we love what Jesus taught about how to distinguish the real thing from the counterfeit.

Watch out for false prophets. They come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ferocious wolves. By their fruit you will recognize them. Do people pick grapes from thorn bushes, or figs from thistles? Likewise, every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit. A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, and a bad tree cannot bear good fruit. Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. Thus, by their fruit you will recognize them.

(Matthew 7:15–20)

Jesus’ point is that not everything is as it seems. To distinguish the sheep from the wolves in our lives, we need to look beyond appearances to the fruit—to what is produced. Although we may not routinely need to distinguish between true and false prophets in our everyday lives, we do need to distinguish between the true and false messages we consume—especially when those messages influence our identity.

We need to ask questions like these:

• Who am I listening to?

• What do they value?

• What are they teaching me?

• What is the fruit of their life or message?

• Is this person or message creating good fruit or bad fruit in my life?

These are important questions to consider when examining the voices you allow to speak into your life. False messages are everywhere, and they sow seeds of discontentment and discord wherever they go.

Consuming fake fruit will always leave us starving for real sustenance. Our experiences and feelings are not our identity. Why do we let someone or something other than Jesus determine who we are?

Let’s not allow the lies of the Enemy and the messages of a misguided culture carry more weight than what God has said about our identity, value, and purpose.

Refuse the plastic, shiny fruit, and pursue Jesus.

Refuse the counterfeits, sister.

Brittany Maher and Cassandra Speer are friends who met through Instagram and decided to make it their mission to help women uncover their true worth and stop looking for it in all the wrong places.

They share their own journeys of finding freedom from the exhausting search for human approval and share how they have found their security and significance through a relationship with Jesus Christ. Be encouraged and equipped to live with unshakable confidence in who God says you are and stop measuring your worth by the world’s metric system.