Oprah and Me

In the early 1970’s a young black woman was given a chance to begin her career in broadcasting. While in college in Nashville Tennessee, Oprah Winfrey, at age 19 co-anchored the evening news on a local television station. I can remember her because in those days it was very rare for a young black woman to have such a prominent position. She was very good, and it wasn’t long until Oprah began making her rise to stardom. As a talk show host in Chicago her fame skyrocketed. Eventually, she became something of a goddess as her fans elevated her to that lofty position. This poor little girl from humble beginnings in Mississippi has become very wealthy with an estimated worth of almost 3 billion dollars.

In the early 1990’s my wife, one of our daughters and her husband, and I had an opportunity to go to one of Oprah’s shows. I won’t go into how it happened, but I was chosen to be interviewed by Oprah. We were given seats on the front row, a mike was placed on me, and I got my two minutes of fame on National TV with Oprah. She asked me some questions and I answered them. That was about it. I was not one of the people who worshipped this lady. My daughter’s husband and I were not too excited about going in the first place. The point I am trying to make is that I met Oprah, talked to her very briefly, and went on about my life, never seeing her in person again. To this day I occasionally see her on TV, I hear things about her because she is famous. She is known worldwide. But I don’t know her personally.

How many famous people do any of us really know? I doubt if very many of us know someone who is famous, or who is worth millions of dollars. Yet, there are many people in our nation today who have met someone famous who they adore. The sad truth is that they treat those people like they are gods. They worship them. People in our society are star struck. Professional athletes, movie stars, musicians, political figures and others are placed on pedestals. They are given a status they don’t deserve. Most of these fame seeking people don’t care anything about their fans except the money that comes from them. They are not our friends, nor will they ever be.

There is only one person that we should worship. His name is Jesus. He is our friend, and we can know him personally. We can talk to him anytime. He will always be with us. He cared about us and loved us enough to die fo us. Oh if we would, as a nation, give Jesus the honor and adoration that we give someone like Oprah, Lebron James, or some movie star who seeks the praise of their fans! Just think how God must feel as he watches us devoting our time, our money and our lives in the pursuit of following and worshipping those who are just people like us. All praise, and adoration, and glory, and honor to our Lord and King, Jesus Christ. Worship the Lord your God and only to him bow the knee.