FORTIFY: Building unshakeable love in a shaky world.
Luxury is a Trap: What families should stop chasing now
The world order
You work longer hours. You barely rest. Your spouse is stressed, and your kids are growing up on YouTube and processed snacks. And what are all these for? A bigger TV or a dream car? Matching family pajamas on Instagram and a house you barely have time to enjoy? Meanwhile, peace is slipping through your fingers not because you’re not trying, but because you’ve been tricked. You’re chasing lifestyle upgrades in a world that’s falling apart and calling it “success.”
What you might be overlooking
Luxury used to mean quality. Now it often means debt, distraction, and delay. We’ve been conditioned to:
- Choose the glamorous over the grounded
- Impress others instead of investing in each other
- Work for brands, not for balance
- Trade our togetherness for a curated life that looks good online but feels empty inside
Here’s the dangerous truth
Many families are sacrificing their future for things that won’t matter in 3 years and won’t survive a 3-day crisis. In a world growing darker, luxury is a seductive trap. It’s not safety. It’s noise in disguise.
What to stop chasing & what to start valuing
1. Stop chasing trendy comfort and start building lasting capacity. Comfort is fleeting but capacity is fortifying.
Instead of: Buying new furniture every year, taking 3 expensive “breaks” from stress, and competing with other families online;
Try: Investing in skills: gardening, home repairs, nutrition, building family endurance, fitness, fasting, simplicity. Teach your children to endure discomfort and delays with grace
2. Stop Impressing People. Start Preparing for Storms.
No one you’re impressing will come save your family in a crisis. Instead of overspending on looks and image, going broke for status items, and taking loans for events; try building a savings buffer, creating a household emergency plan, and equipping your home with essentials such as food storage, water, light, power alternatives.
3. Stop glamorizing soft life and start honoring strong living.
Soft life with no spiritual discipline, no resilience, no direction = slow destruction. Instead of entitlement and leisure addiction, romanticizing passivity, worshiping relaxation while avoiding responsibility; try honoring hard work that doesn’t burn you out. Creating sabbath rhythms (rest with purpose), and raising kids to handle life, not avoid it.
4. Stop being busy, start being strategic.
Busyness is not a badge of honor. It’s often a sign of imbalance.
Ask yourself:
- “What are we really building?”
- “What can we let go of?”
- “What investments will still bless us 10 years from now?”
Let go of luxury that makes you look rich but keeps you spiritually and emotionally poor.
What you think you need but do not need
You don’t need more sparkle, you need more substance. You don’t need more applause, and you certainly do not need more alignment. You don’t need more upgrades. What you need more is unbreakable unity. This is because luxury fades, but a fortified home that is built on faith, wisdom, and togetherness will endure the shaking.
