The big news announced yesterday and all over the news outlets worldwide today is that Apple co-founder Steve Jobs died after a 7-year battle of pancreatic cancer. Of course this has been of interest to me because of my strong interest in Apple products–specifically my long term use of their computers and iPods/iPhone.
All of the reports I have read talk of the great innovator and great man who made all of our lives better that we’ve just lost, but I really have thought about that over the last few weeks after he resigned is position of CEO. Really who was Steve Jobs and what is the company that he has created? It is true, I believe, that Apple is one of the most innovative tech companies in the world due in no small part to the genius that is/was Steve Jobs. He completely revolutionized the way we think about music, personal computing, and phones but other than that, what has he done for us? What were his causes? Was he out to make money or did he have other socially relevant causes to which he contributed? Was it his goal to eliminate poverty, hunger, spread the gospel, etc?
We tend to measure greatness and the quality of life by the gadgets that we have that help us do things faster and “more efficiently”. Thanks to Steve Jobs, I have a phone that now serves as a music box, camera, flashlight, compass, 10,000 books, atlas, mail system, entertainment system, clock, carpentry system, address book, etc. Those things have all definitely made things easier in my life, but are those are just things and they are will be gone in the blink of an eye. James 4:14 tells us, “Why, you do not even know what will happen tomorrow. What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes.” If all we leave behind is technological gadgets, what have we really left?
Our lives here on Earth are very short, but our souls will live on for eternity and the question we have to ask ourselves, is how we want to live it? With the Father, or without him? As a practicing Buddhist, Jobs would have believed in karma, rebirth, etc and likely would have meant that he indeed was a good man, but the Bible teaches that “no one comes to the Father except through Jesus”, John 14:6. We can only pray that Steve Jobs accepted Christ at some point during his life but evidence does not point to that and, sadly, he may be paying for this decision for eternity.
Steve Jobs indeed was one of the great innovators of our times and has revolutionized the way we do things and will truly be remembered. He also built a company that builds what I believe to be a superior product and also treats its customers THE RIGHT WAY (which are two of the reasons I was a frequent repeat customer of his company), but it’s not enough to live a good life here on Earth, we must also accept his son, Jesus Christ.