Why do we idolize someone because they pretend to be someone else before a camera? Why do many gaze, starry-eyed, at some musicians who sing lyrics that many cannot understand and even fewer would think contained noteworthy thoughts if they could understand them? What is wrong with our values? We emphasize the external to the internal, the style over the substance, the dramatic over the genuinely helpful. A society who continues to have such emphases surely is not moving toward life, light, and the preservation of liberty. Truth and liberty require sacrifice, based in a persevering willingness to follow the example of truly great people such as Jesus, the apostle Paul, Lincoln, or Mother Teresa of Calcutta.
Ultimately, where does following an actor, musician, or athlete get us? Does it normally enrich our mind and strengthen our resolve to do what God says is right? Do celebrities normally help us become humbler, to be more loving servants? If not, then they are encouraging us to be God’s enemies because God opposes the proud (Jas 4:6). Thus, our focus should be on loving others by serving them as the Lord directs us. Jesus said He did not come to be served but to serve (Mk 10:45). Christ was not looking for fan mail, an insanely large salary, or how He could promote Himself. He listened to the Father then humbly did the service God the Father asked Him to do. He called for people to believe and do things which were unpopular. For example, He said we are to believe that He is the only way to God (Jn 14:6) and to repent of our sin (Mk 1:15).
Whose example should we be looking to and following? Let us focus on those who are known because they are great in God’s eyes rather than following those who are thought to be great in the world’s eyes merely because they are famous. Let us have a perspective that accounts for eternity.
Instead of being timid, learn to be appropriately bold.