Why do we care what they think? Everywhere we turn these days, whether to a television advertisement, the newspaper, a magazine, the Internet or even to a news broadcast, all we see is a steady diet of these people. Who are they? Celebrities!
Do you doubt this? Try this experiment. At your local health club or YMCA, station yourself on an elliptical machine near the usual row of televisions in place to occupy the minds of the people working out. While you are working up a sweat, allow your eyes to scan the TVs for thirty minutes. Count up the number of “famous” people you see on the array of channels before you. You’ll be impressed with the final count!
The issue of why we care so much about what celebrities think came into very sharp focus for me during this past presidential election season. It seemed each night’s newscasts had video clips of Kid Rock or Bruce Springsteen or some other famous person appearing with their candidate of choice. Maybe I’m being too simplistic, but I can’t see how these people know anything more about federal monetary policy, immigration law or the proper size of the military that any of the rest of us. If we are honest, most of us will admit that we don’t know much about the details of these issues ourselves.
So, why do we care what celebrities think? Or why would we buy an undershirt just because Michael Jordan says it is a good one?
Are we really so shallow that such opinions actually influence our behavior?
You know the answer. If celebrities didn’t persuade us, those who are trying to influence us wouldn’t use them in their ads.
Secretly, we not only care what these people think, we actually want to be them. We want what they have – celebrity. We want people to ask us what we think about things. Trust me; I know. All day long people want to know what I think as I do my job. It can be intoxicating.
People of faith know this is not the way God would have us be. In fact, He tells us that we are not to boast about our wisdom, our might or our riches. Jer. 9:23. Nor are we to fix our minds on things of the earth. Col. 3:2.
Friends, even as we know these spiritual truths, we struggle with the pull of earthly things. Just as we were saved by faith, so we must live by faith. We cannot withstand the enticements of this earth on our own by simply trying harder. We need God’s grace. And we have to ask for it every day.
