Steve Jobs dies at 56 today. He is chief executive officer and co-founder of Apple Computer and of Pixar Animation Studios, urged graduates to pursue their dreams and see the opportunities in life’s setbacks — including death itself — In his speech at the university’s 114th Commencement on June 12, 2005, He said,
“No one wants to die. Even people who want to go to heaven don’t want to die to get there. And yet death is the destination we all share. No one has ever escaped it. And that is as it should be, because Death is very likely the single best invention of Life. It is Life’s change agent. It clears out the old to make way for the new. Right now the new is you, but someday not too long from now, you will gradually become the old and be cleared away. Sorry to be so dramatic, but it is quite true.” Steve Jobs
A Time for Everything
There is an appointed time for everything. And there is a time for every event under heaven—
A time to give birth and a time to die;
A time to plant and a time to uproot what is planted.
A time to kill and a time to heal;
A time to tear down and a time to build up.
A time to weep and a time to laugh;
A time to mourn and a time to dance.
A time to throw stones and a time to gather stones;
A time to embrace and a time to shun embracing.
A time to search and a time to give up as lost;
A time to keep and a time to throw away.
A time to tear apart and a time to sew together;
A time to be silent and a time to speak.
A time to love and a time to hate;
A time for war and a time for peace.
30″ x 40″ Mixed Media
Lyndeutsch 2007
“What is the meaning of life?” asked the student of the rabbi. The rabbi replied, “that is such a wonderful question, why would you want to exchange it for an answer?”
Forget prudence, eat, drink, and seize any fleeting moment of happiness.
What else is the point of living? You work hard, and someone else gets the credit. You struggle to be good, and bad people trample you. You accumulate money, and you don’t even get to enjoy it. You seek pleasure and it turns sour.
Besides, everyone meets the same end: we all die. Death contradicts any notion that we are born to be happy.
An encounter with beauty or an experience of intense joy may cause us for a time to forget our true mortal state – but not for long.
We realize that we cannot figure out life on our own and nothing on this side of timed paradise will quiet the rumors of discontent.
A person may sense eternity in the heart and never turn to God who placed it there.
You may fail on the positive side by frantically chasing wealth, success, gourmet sex, or you may fail on the negative side by dropping out giving up, and sinking into a chemical stupor. A devotion to pleasure will paradoxically lead to utter despair.
Ecclesiastes insists that the stones we trip over are good things in themselves. Despair descends as we abuse God’s good gifts, turning nudity into pornography, wine into alcoholism, food into gluttony, human diversity into racism and prejudice.
The Bible calls us to accept our status as creatures under the dominion of the Creator.
(Excerpts from the Bible Jesus Read by Philip Yancey, pp. 143-167)
It is only when we surrender our lives to Jesus Christ, to be our Lord and Savior, that we find what truly satisfies. Until then life will not make sense and will never fully make sense because we are not God.
You must have a Bible. Look up and read the passages cited in this message allowing the Holy Spirit to speak to you. I pray that my God out of His love and mercy may bring you into His kingdom today and claim you for Himself. My hope lies not from the freedom of your will but from God’s sovereignty and the freeness of His grace.
God bless you!
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One Response
Beautiful! I am in awe of your talent!