BEST OF TQFG: Steve Jobs on Job.
We hope you enjoy this re-post from January 5, 2015. Be blessed! The Today’s Quote From God Team
And said, Naked came I out of my mother’s womb, and naked shall I return thither: the Lord gave, and the Lord hath taken away; blessed be the name of the Lord. – Job 1:21, King James Version (KJV)
In his 2005 commencement speech at Stanford University, the late Steve Jobs, founder of Apple, Pixar Animation, and Next, stated:
When I was 17, I read a quote that went something like, “If you live each day as if it were your last, someday you’ll most certainly be right.” It made an impression on me, and since then, for the past 33 years, I’ve looked in the mirror every morning and asked myself, “If today were the last day of my life, would I want to do what I am about to do today?” And whenever the answer has been “no” for too many days in a row, I know I need to change something. Remembering that I’ll be dead soon is the most important tool 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 that you have something to lose. You are already naked; there is no reason not to follow your heart.
Jobs’ words mirror the words of Job, spoken thousands of years ago, regarding the same issue. Nothing is ours forever, so all external expectations, all pride, all fear of embarrassment or failure are founded on the false assumption that what we have is ours to lose. What we have is simply on loan from God, so we have nothing to lose. We only have His favor to gain by properly managing that which He has entrusted to us.
The only thing I would edit in Steve Jobs’ comments is this: you are already naked, so there is no reason not to follow God’s leading in your life. Following your heart can lead you into dark, evil places. Following God’s leading in your life never will.
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