I recently watched the new biopic Elvis about American music legend Elvis Presley. I had not been particularly interested in him prior to the movie, but it was so captivating that I began thinking more about its message and the tragedy of Elvis’ short life.
In the opening scene, Elvis’ manager (played by Tom Hanks) is reflecting on Elvis’ life and more importantly the question: Who or what killed him?
His answer boiled down to one thing: Love of attention. Elvis’ real downfall—what was behind some of his poor lifestyle choices—was a love of applause and celebrity status.
Today, in a world obsessed with platform, celebrity, and selfies, we don’t have to be famous to experience some of the same pitfalls that Elvis did. With mobile phones, social media accounts, and “audiences” right at our fingertips, we can easily become addicted to the same kinds of attention. The Bible tells us though that if not handled properly, pride can easily be our downfall.
We’re going to look at Obadiah in today’s message and talk about how we can heed warnings like the one given to the Edomites about the ways that pride can deceive us. Ultimately, the answer is always to get ourselves out of the center and Jesus in to the center.