Brad Pitt has attained the fame, wealth and success millions spend their lives chasing. Yet the actor recently admitted that intense personal pain once left him contemplating suicide.
Pastor Greg Laurie used Pitt’s honesty to confront a truth our culture often ignores: No amount of worldly success can satisfy the human soul.
“What you’re looking for is not found in a car or a condo or on a screen or in a scroll or some AI voice that flatters you,” Laurie said. “You’re looking for God.”
Laurie pointed to legendary actor Steve McQueen, who also reached the heights of Hollywood before discovering how empty fame could be. McQueen’s journey to Christ did not begin through a celebrity preacher or elaborate outreach campaign. It began with a flight instructor named Sammy Mason.
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As the men spent time together, McQueen recognized something different in Mason. Laurie said he saw “a man who was at peace with God, a man who had a relationship with the Lord.”
Mason simply lived his Christian faith, and his example helped lead one of the world’s most famous actors to Jesus.
That should encourage every one of us. We may never stand behind a pulpit or speak before thousands, but our lives are preaching every day. The peace we carry, the compassion we show and the courage with which we proclaim the gospel can point someone toward eternity.
Laurie also offered hope to Pitt and everyone who has wandered from the faith: “God loves you. God misses you, and he wants you to come back home to him.”
Let us live boldly, love people sincerely and follow Jesus wholeheartedly. Someone around us may be searching for the very hope Christ placed within us.
James Lasher, a seasoned writer and editor at Charisma Media, combines faith and storytelling with a journalism background from Otterbein University and ministry experience in Guatemala and at the LA Dream Center. A Marine Corps and Air Force veteran, he is the author of The Revelation of Jesus: A Common Man’s Commentary and a contributor to Charisma magazine. For interviews and media inquiries, please contact [email protected].