Steve Jobs, may not have been a Christian I told my boys this morning, but perhaps we can learn something from his life as we search diligently. I read to my boys Sean and David from the Bible about searching, taking up their cross, with all their heart, because our King is not a “safe Lion, but he is good” (C.S. Lewis describing Aslan in The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe). I accept that Jesus is the way, the truth and the life, and no one comes to the Father except by him (John 14:6). What is our role? How then should we live?
Practically how does searching work out? According to Jeremiah, God has plans to prosper us, but we are to search with all our heart. The specific plans and dreams I search out are almost secondary to HOW I search…with all my heart, diligently as the Bereans who were counted by God as noble. (Acts 17:10).
Steve Jobs was a treasure seeker…perhaps of a different kind. But perhaps I can learn from his life, as he tells it. The danger of summarizing any thought is losing the precious context. Can you search for truth eagerly? “Cliff notes” abbreviated version below, (the questions are my own) full version here.
Steve Jobs: How to live before you die
Commencement speech at Stanford 2005
1. Connecting the Dots
“School, I couldn’t see the value in it”
Looking back…(dropping out) was one of the best decisions I ever made, I could stop taking the required classes that didn’t interest me, and begin dropping in on the class I was interested in.
It is impossible to connect the dots looking forward, you can only connect them looking backward. You have to trust that the dots will connect in the future. Believing that the dots will connect down the road, that will give you the confidence to follow your heart.
- [Question: Do we search for God with ALL our heart, following and trusting Him to connect the dots? Do we believe He will work it out?]
“Publically I was let go from the focus of everything in my adult life…it was devastating. Public failure, and I thought about running away from the valley, but I still loved what I did.
“Getting fired was the best thing that could have ever happened to me” It freed me to be a beginner again. The heaviness of being successful was replace by the lightness of being a beginner, less sure about things. Freed me to be one of the most creative periods of my life. Started NeXt, Pixar.
None of this would have happened if I hadn’t lost my job at Apple. Sometimes life gonna hit you in the head with a brick. Don’t lose faith. I am convinced that the one thing that kept me going is that I loved what I did. You have got to find what you love.
The only way to do great work is to love what you do. …Keep looking, don’t settle.
- [Questions:
- Do I hold onto or settle for less when it seems our dreams are dashed, or do I spring forward when I hit bottom, accepting change as positive, even sovereign for my future?
- Do I enter as a little child?
- Did you know that adults smile 30 times per day on average, but children over 300?]
3. Death
“If you live each day as if it was your last, one day you will most certainly be right. I have looked on the mirror and asked myself, if today was the last day of my life, would I want to do what I am about to do today?
Remembering that I'll be dead soon is the most important tools I've ever encountered to help me make the big choices in life. Because almost everything — all external expectations, all pride, all fear of embarrassment or failure - these things just fall away in the face of death, leaving only what is truly important.
Remembering that you are going to die is the best way I know to avoid the trap of thinking you have something to lose. You are already naked. There is no reason not to follow your heart.
Your time is limited, so don't waste it living someone else's life. Don't be trapped by dogma — which is living with the results of other people's thinking. Don't let the noise of others' opinions drown out your own inner voice. And most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition. They somehow already know what you truly want to become. Everything else is secondary.”
- [Question: If today was your last day, would you want to do (for God’s glory) what you are about to do, or are you MERELY doing what someone expects (dogma)? If someone took away all our commentary, all our recorded sermons, what would you say that you BELIEVE?]
After this speech the iPhone and the iPad were brought to market. How am I searching?
