He was one of the stars of Boyzone who were huge in the 90s when I was in primary school. You know Ronan Keating? Yeah he's from the same band. He was only 33. Some people are affected by celebrity deaths. Some aren't. For me, it just got me thinking. You can die at anytime. Yeah. You can die tomorrow. Then I remembered this passage from the Bible.
Luke 12
The Parable of the Rich Fool
13Someone in the crowd said to him, "Teacher, tell my brother to divide the inheritance with me."
14Jesus replied, "Man, who appointed me a judge or an arbiter between you?"15Then he said to them, "Watch out! Be on your guard against all kinds of greed; a man's life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions."
16And he told them this parable: "The ground of a certain rich man produced a good crop. 17He thought to himself, 'What shall I do? I have no place to store my crops.'
18"Then he said, 'This is what I'll do. I will tear down my barns and build bigger ones, and there I will store all my grain and my goods. 19And I'll say to myself, "You have plenty of good things laid up for many years. Take life easy; eat, drink and be merry."'
20"But God said to him, 'You fool! This very night your life will be demanded from you. Then who will get what you have prepared for yourself?'
21"This is how it will be with anyone who stores up things for himself but is not rich toward God."
So I hope you would take some to seriously consider that. Are you rich toward God? Are you cool with God? Is he cool with you? What if you die tomorrow?
Ultimately, there is no real point chasing riches or celebrity. All mortals stand equal before the Almighty God. The fact that you even live is a gift from Him. You could be the richest, most famous person for a day. And what would that mean if God were to strike you dead tomorrow?
