Everybody Is Essentially the Same

No life is without its share of problems.

If you don’t have much wealth, you worry about how to get more. If you have a lot, you always find someone who has more. If you have the most, you worry about how to keep it.

Wealth is a relative concept. Someone wrote, "If you have money in the bank, in your wallet, and spare change in a dish someplace, you are among the top 8% of the world’s wealthy."

Even the most beautiful, famous, and wealthy people have their hurts and pains.

The American public loves to follow the adventures of the rich and famous. Just look at all the tabloids. I was standing in line at the store one day and saw on the cover of a tabloid: "Cellulite of the Stars." These people can’t even take off their shirt at the beach without being photographed—it’s brutal.

We take some perverse delight in knowing these people are just like us. And indeed they are.

There is an old legend about people in a certain village who constantly complained about their troubles. Each was invited to throw all of his burdens and problems into one big heap in the middle of town. Then he was given the privilege of choosing other troubles to replace the ones he gave up.

After careful deliberation and consideration, each selected the same problems he had cast aside, feeling his own to be less difficult than those of the others.

People put up a front, and pretend to be happy when they are not. But deep down inside, we are really all the same, with the same hurts and needs. And the answer to these needs is the same for everyone: a personal relationship with God through Jesus Christ.