Seriously, what is the appeal?

Quit scraping and fawning over mere humans,
so full of themselves, so full of hot air!
Can't you see there's nothing to them? - Isaiah 2:22 (The Message)

I read this verse while on a plane coming home from England, and it got me thinking about celebrity worship. If you live in America and rarely leave, you may not believe this, but the Brits are far more into celebs and gossip that we are. In fact, most drug stores/ book stores/ airport shops had one magazine rack devoted to celebrity gossip- a single shelf printed with more neon than Nicky Hayden's Repsol Honda.



These magazines told, in hot pink or glowing orange print, what "Megan" was wearing this week, or how "Minnie" lost 24 pounds after her baby or what guy "Rose" was last seen with (apparently, last names are taboo in celebspeak).

So, I was profoundly affected by this verse, standing all alone at the end of one of Isaiah's visions. Quit scraping and fawning over mere humans.... After all, don't most of us have people we're "just dying" to meet? Wouldn't we drop our lunch and jump up to go meet Oprah or Barack or Sarah or Rob? (That's Bell, for me...) How much time and attention do we focus on mere humans and let God stand by himself, waiting patiently, for just a chance to enter our thoughts and our hearts? How often do we put The One who saved us on the back burner just for a chance to watch Big Brother or Biggest Loser or read about Brangelina's latest child?

What is the appeal anyway? Shouldn't everything we do be for God's glory, not for ours? Not for other people's?

Yes, they may play basketball well, or really convince you they're crying on the big screen, or they may have eye-melting beauty (or handsomeness). But, they're mere humans. I'm afraid that one day we'll wake up to find there really is nothing to them.