Don’t Settle for Counterfeits

I was sitting in service during week three of Jesus Is Enough, listening to Pastor Stephen Mizell preach “Don’t Settle for Counterfeits,” and this question kept coming back to me: why do we keep returning to things that aren't actually helping us change?

Because most of the time, we already know something needs to change. We know the habit. We know the pattern. We've had the “I'm not doing that again” conversation with ourselves. Then we get tired, frustrated, or overwhelmed, and there we are again.

Pastor Stephen brought us back to Colossians and the new life we have in Jesus. That matters because I can spend a lot of energy trying to manage my behavior without ever dealing with what's going on in my heart. I can look like I'm doing better and still be looking to the same things to tell me who I am.

And honestly, that hit close to home.

Approval can start carrying way too much weight. Getting something done can become the thing that makes me feel valuable. Being busy can make me feel important. Even scrolling can become a way to avoid sitting with something I need to bring to God. Those things aren't all wrong in themselves. But none of them can carry the job of being my source of peace or identity.

That's where this message got personal for me. Instead of only asking, “How do I stop doing this?” I need to ask, “What am I hoping this will do for me?”

Am I looking for comfort? Am I trying to feel accepted? Do I want control because something else feels uncertain? If I never deal with that, I can drop one habit and pick up another that does the same thing with a different name.

Colossians 2:10 says we have been brought to fullness in Christ. I'm not trying to convince Jesus that I'm worth loving. In Him, I'm forgiven and made alive. Learning to believe that changes the way I respond when something else offers to make me feel like enough.

That doesn't mean following Jesus makes every temptation disappear. It means I don't have to face those temptations as someone with nothing to hold on to. I can bring the actual struggle to Him, not just the cleaned-up version I'd be comfortable telling everybody else.

This is also why the ordinary parts of following Jesus matter so much. Opening my Bible. Praying honestly. Being in church. Letting somebody know when I'm struggling. Those things aren't extra credit to get God to like me. They're ways I keep turning toward Him and making room for Him to work in me.

As a youth pastor, I think about the way we talk to students about all of this. We can give them a really solid list of things not to do. We can have boundaries and accountability, and we should. But if all they hear is “stop that,” have we helped them understand why Jesus is worth following?

I want students to know Him, not just know how to act around church people. I want that for all of us. There's a difference between learning the right answers and trusting Jesus with the part of your life you wish nobody would ask about.

I left service grateful for the reminder, and challenged by it too. It's easy for me to say Jesus is enough. The harder part is letting that shape what I reach for when I'm looking for relief.

So here's the question I'm carrying with me: what am I asking something else to give me that I need to bring to Jesus?

Maybe start there. Be honest about what you're looking for. Talk to Him about it. Let someone trustworthy walk with you. You don't have to pretend you've already figured it all out.

I don't want to keep settling for something that helps for a minute and leaves me in the same place. I want to keep growing in Jesus, even when that growth is slower and more ordinary than I'd like.