The thing about 'beautiful people'

A recent USA Today article asked a segment of today's younger population the question: "What do you want more than anything else?"

They were polling the so-called "millennial generation," also known as Generation Y – those born since the early 1980s.

So what does this generation desire beyond all else? Before I give you that answer, let me contrast it to a poll of baby boomers back in 1967, when asked a similar question.

When queried, "What do you want more than anything else?" the boomers answered: "A meaningful philosophy of life."

And Generation Y? Their answer was, "I want to be rich and famous."

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That, according to this significant slice of the populace, is the top of the mountain. To be wealthy and to be well-known is everything.

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There are times, I suppose, when most of us are bitten by this bug. We'll sometimes look at some of the "beautiful people" portrayed in our media – pretty, handsome, wealthy, or multi-talented – and think to ourselves, "Man, wouldn't it be great to be like her!" Or, "Wouldn't it be fantastic to be in his shoes?"

That's the way it is with human nature. If you don't have much, you want to have more. If you already have an abundance, there's always someone who has more than you. And even if you manage to amass more than anybody else, you find yourself worrying about maintaining and keeping it.

I guess it's all relative. Someone once observed: "If you have money in the bank, in your wallet and spare change in a dish somewhere, you are among the top 8 percent of the world's wealthy." So that would mean that even the American on the lowest rung of our economic ladder would be wealthy compared to the standards of the rest of the world.

Even so, we tend to look at wealthy people or celebrities and just assume they have life by the tail. In reality, they're just like you and me, with all the problems, worries and heartaches we have – and more besides!

That's one dynamic that keeps the supermarket tabloids alive. I saw one recently with the headline: "Cellulite of the movie stars." It featured really tight shots of famous people at the beach who were, well … not looking their best, if you know what I mean. Somehow, it makes us feel better when we see someone we assumed to be beautiful or handsome looking maybe a little worse than we do in a bathing suit. (For the record, I didn't touch the tabloid!)

Even these famous, successful, fabulously wealthy men and women have many of the same problems and worries you do – with the additional burden of never having a moment's privacy!

There's an old legend about a group people living in a certain village who were constantly complaining about their troubles. So one day every one of them was invited to bring all of his or her burdens and problems and cast them into a big heap in the middle of town. Then, according to this story, they were given the privilege of choosing another's trouble – someone else's heartache or worry – to replace their own. After careful deliberation and consideration, each person selected the same problem they had originally cast aside, feeling that his or her own problem was less difficult than the others.

Here's something we need to know: Below the surface, most people are essentially the same. Years ago, Billy Graham addressed a large group of itinerant evangelists in Amsterdam. And in that address he said, "When I go to proclaim to the gospel – whether it's a street corner in Nairobi or a meeting in Seoul, Korea – there are certain things that are true in the hearts and minds of all people."

First, he said, there is an emptiness in every life without Christ.

Pascal put it right when he described a God-shaped vacuum in every life that only God can fill. The Scripture tells us in Romans 8:20, "For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of Him who subjected it in hope." It doesn't matter where you go in the world – every person alive has an empty place in his or her heart that only Jesus can fill.

Second, Dr. Graham noted that every individual, no matter how rich or beautiful or powerful or famous, is lonely.

Even though we may not acknowledge it or even put words to it, we're lonely for God! It's in our spiritual DNA. That's why people go from one one-night-stand to another, from one marriage to another, from one relationship to another, desperately trying to find a person to fill a void that only God Himself can occupy.

Third, every person has a sense of guilt.

The head of a mental institution in London once said, "I could release half of my patients if I could find a way to relieve them of their guilt." And why do we feel such guilt, deep within us? It's because we're guilty! Every one of us. Romans 3:22-23 (NIV) declares: "There is no difference, for all have sinned and fall sort of the glory of God."

Finally, there is a universal fear of death.

Now, I know that some people will act really tough and say, "Not me. I'm not afraid to die. I don't care about death." Woody Allen said, "I'm not afraid to die. I just don't want to be there when it happens!" I think that's how some of us feel. But really, deep down inside we are afraid to die. Hebrews 2:15 speaks of those who "all their lives were held in slavery by their fear of death" (NIV).

As believers who have put our faith in Christ, we no longer have to fear death, because Christ has conquered the grave and promised us a place in His Father's house after we depart this earth. But even so, death is still our "last enemy" and something each one of us must face, if the Rapture doesn't happen first.

In summary, then, even famous, successful, so-called "beautiful people" have certain things in common: Apart from a relationship with Jesus Christ, they are empty, lonely, guilty and afraid to die.

Achieving wealth and fame – even great wealth and mega-fame – really does very little to address the most basic issues of life.

Generation Y needs a deeper answer than that.

We all do.