Remember sweet little Lindsay Lohan?

I remember when she first came on the scene as “twins” in the Disney hit remake of The Parent Trap. I was blown away by her acting skills for such a young girl, and instantly fell in love with her fresh, freckled face and girl-next-door quality.

I also remember thinking to myself, “I hope she can handle Hollywood. She’s just a baby.”

This photo was just taken yesterday, in court.

The downward spiral of Lindsay’s life started from a place high above the level ground of the average person. She had skyrocketed to personal acclaim due, certainly, to her fine acting talent, but also to the exploitation of her parents. Succumbing to the lure of financial success beyond their wildest dreams, they pushed and mismanaged their daughter’s career to the point where boundaries of any kind became irrelevant. Though she is a grown woman who has made terrible choices, it was her parents who fell victim of one of the oldest lures ever known: fame and fortune. She is the tragic fallout and she is the one living the consequences of their being duped.

Hear me, please, because I am not excusing her behavior or choices. But her parents pushed her up to a pinnacle where she was never designed to be. It’s a long fall from that place, and like anyone who follows the enemy on his road to counterfeit greatness, they will eventually find themselves deep in a pit of hollow despair. They, in essence, pattern themselves after their enemy, who tried to do this himself:

“You said to yourself, ‘I’ll climb to heaven. I’ll set my throne over the stars of God. I’ll run the assembly of angels that meets on sacred Mount Zaphon. I’ll climb to the top of the clouds. I’ll take over as King of the Universe!’

But you didn’t make it, did you? Instead of climbing up, you came down—Down with the underground dead, down to the abyss of the Pit.” Isaiah 14:13-17 MSG

We are just as easily lured by the promise of fame and fortune. At the core, we long to be known and significant. Our world tells us that achieving personal acclaim and wealth will do this for us, because the one currently wreaking havoc in the world is the same one who fell from the heights of heaven to the pit of hell.

Jesus showed us a different approach. In Him, we find the true pinnacle of personal acclaim…and it has nothing to do with us. There is a height to be reached, as, once we accept Him, we are His co-heirs to a heavenly Kingdom. But there is nothing we can physically do to reach that place. The model He left for us was to live as He did, in humility, service, and submission to a greater plan that puts us smack in the middle of our purpose:

“I have appointed you for the very purpose of displaying my power in you and to spread my fame throughout the earth.” Romans 9:17 NLT

HIS fame is OUR fame. Our gifts are given to point others to HIM and show them how they can find the pinnacle from which they will never fall.

Everyone of us has felt the pressure to follow our enemy; we have and we will. But there is another model to follow and another model to, well, model. If more of us take to living low, maybe there will be a lot fewer stories like Lindsay’s and her parents’.

A lot less in the news about the hard, hard fall from pinnacle to pit.

*Lift up Lindsay Lohan and others like her in Hollywood. I have felt such a burden for those in the entertainment industry…brokenness is rampant (and they walk through that brokenness under the harsh and judging eye of the whole world). The harvest is great. Thanks.