Sermon Illustrations
Actress Jennifer Lawrence on Her Anxiety
The actress Jennifer Lawrence, famous for her role in The Hunger Games films, has had a long battle with anxiety and insecurity. In a 2014 interview, she said:
[In middle school] there are all these peers judging you, and you're never good enough, never wearing the right outfit, saying the right thing. I want everyone to like me. Who doesn't? Then you grow up and become famous, and it's the same thing multiplied by a billion.
When she saw herself on a TV program being interviewed, she had a full-fledged panic attack. Ms. Lawrence said, "All of a sudden it was like being hit by a train—this realization of how many people are looking at me, how many opinions there are."
In her worst moments, she's certain her career will come crashing down. "People are going to get sick of me," she said. "I'm way too annoying. But if people want to start a backlash [against me], I'm the captain of the team. As much as you hate me, I'm ten steps ahead of you."
Possible Preaching Angles: (1) Anxiety; Emptiness; Insecurity—Celebrities seem to have it all, but apart from Christ, like the rest of us, they will struggle with anxiety and insecurity. (2) Pornography; Lust—Ms. Lawrence has become an object of male lust. But when we lust after someone we find attractive do we ever stop to think and pray for the "object" of our lusts? The ones we lust after are also persons, made in God's image, who have hurts and needs.