Most people are both messengers and victims of a celebrity culture that defines the spirit of this age. People envy the fame and money of celebrities and imitate them as role models. Fans today worship celebrities until they become parodies of themselves, and then the media turns them into cartoon characters. In reality, many celebrities live emotionally and spiritually destructive lives. With 24/7 media coverage and the need for young people to have role models, the celebrity lifestyle of glamour and thrills seems attractive to many. This dysfunctional view of life leads to dangerous behaviour. In spite of public emotional meltdowns, drug addiction and broken relationships, millions of young people still see celebrities as quintessential images of the good life. So many people today are led to believe that those moving images and glossy, airbrushed pictures that we see of them reflect success and happiness.
As a result of this ugly development, people throughout the society have become so in love with themselves that they are losing the ability to love others. The Bible however, helps us to navigate the traps of the dysfunctional celebrity culture. The exemplary lifestyle of the tribal men of Reuben, Gad and the half tribe of Manasseh tells us that:
– there is a Creator, God, whose standards are worth following
– God loves us and has a purpose for our lives
– The problems in life are a result of people not living the way God intended them to live.
– There is real good and evil, and there are terrible consequences for choosing evil, and
– Jesus Christ is the Saviour who died for our sins and helps us to live as God directs.
The word which Moses commanded these tribes in Joshua 1:12-18, refers to the agreement he reached with the eastern side of Jordan (Joshua 1:14-15; Deut. 3:16-20). It is an agreement to remain in faith, to maintain purity, to get to spiritual height and to get to heaven at last (see Rom. 14:13; 1 Cor. 8:7-13; Gal. 6:2-7). Actions and activities that cause offense should be avoided; we are to love one another (1 John 3:11-18). We must also be conscious of the fact that our actions in life, even in the place we are now, do not only affect us but others around, so every true believer in Christ should deliberately and carefully live his or her life to help others achieve heaven (Josh. 1:15; 7:1-4). As Joshua addressed these tribes, we are being addressed today not to go to rest until those taken captive by Satan are recovered and delivered (Jude 23; 2 Tim. 2:26).
To become the celebrities that God expects of us, we must willingly accept and practically demonstrate all the instructions of God and be ready to go anywhere with Him. Being a celebrity accepted by God is to show a high degree of obedience, submission and willingness to do God’s work. It is resolving to put to death the ugly acts of rebellion and insubordination, and finally killing the symptoms of our present day celebrity culture such as excessive fascination with worldly celebrities, obsession with wanting to dress or model the behaviour of a worldly celebrity, hyper-sexuality, dangerous behaviours like drug or alcohol abuse, and acting out wrong behaviours on the Internet.
Real success is rooted in a strong sense of identity as a child of God and living by His rules of life. Are you in any way in the business of celebrating evil rather than good? Now is the time to ask God to come into your life and forgive you for living a way based on a wrong viewpoint of how life works. Jesus is the way to good life and His teachings are there to show us the real, eternal ways to happiness and success. If you are one of His, then you are a CELEBRITY per excellence!