Would you fight the crowds to get a glimpse of your favorite star?
It certainly seems most Americans would! From Justin Beeber, to Jennifer Lawrence to Tim Tebow, teens, and their parents are all a flutter – and a push and shove away from getting close to their favs! I have been known to do some pushin and shovin myself, for the right personality.
It is odd to me that star sightings are now considered “news” and the whereabouts of various famous people are plastered right next to real world news events.
What’s up with that?
Why are we compelled to “star gaze” and read copious amounts of written word on the comings and goings of the well known and famous. People go to such crazy lengths to get an in person sighting, be near and dare I say…”touch” someone who they see as special or especially wonderful.
It certainly seems to be a natural internal longing and most definitely has gone on for decades. Whether it was James Dean, Martin Luther King, Jr. or the Beatles humanity is drawn to be near those who they see as worthy of admiration.
Could this natural, internal longing be placed there for a specific reason and as with most things, we mere humans have messed it all up? We have the longing, but we are looking to the wrong sources to fill that longing.
Idols.
False worship of human idols.
“This is…American Idol” – irony at it’s best.
I think the longing God put in our hearts to lead us to seek Him gets muddled and confused and we fill that longing with a counterfeit, temporary stand in. That stand in may provide a temporary rush of happiness, but still leaves us empty and longing – for the next American idol.
The crowds were drawn to Jesus, as were the hurting individuals. And those hurting individuals knew, they knew deep down, that just one touch would heal. The Bible is filled with stories of those who sought out Jesus. Just this morning, as I read Matthew 9:20-22 I was struck by the reality of the bleeding woman’s need being met by Jesus and the converse reality that hurting humans are reaching out to the latest star and not finding the healing they so desperately seek.
Right longing, wrong individual.
This is not a judgment on the individual being sought after as Tim Tebow (and others) do rightfully guide their fans to the right source of fulfillment and I believe God is moving in the “industry” for those very reasons. (And as we’ve witnessed many don’t like that and they belittle those who speak the name of Jesus.)
I just wanted to share this insight and encourage those of you who are given any amount of notoriety to be ever mindful to point others to the One who will provide complete healing, by way of perfect peace! But be prepared for the haters – they have always been there and they followed Jesus around too!
What do you think?
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