The “Wisdom” of Steve Jobs

As a Christian, I must always be careful not to get caught up in the wisdom and philosophies that grow popular. With the recent death of Steve Jobs, there has been an outpouring of praise and adoration for this man who brought us really neat gadgets, and by many accounts was a tremendous success. With that success, many have wondered how they can also have such success for themselves. One way is to look at the life of someone like Steve Jobs and study his methods of doing business and his leadership techniques, and then try to imitate these things. But to really get at the core of someone like Steve Jobs, you need to understand the values and principles that led to his actions.

Over Ten Million people have viewed Steve Jobs' 2005 Stanford Commencement Address on YouTube and other places on the web. In this speech Steve tells his life story and gives the hearers a glimpse into the philosophies that drove him. Many of the statements were very motivational and inspirational to the audience, but I want to take a closer look and see how this “wisdom” compares with the true wisdom of God through the bible.

“Trust In Yourself”
One of my personal philosophies resembles something Steve Jobs said in his speech:

“The only way to be truly satisfied is to do what you believe is great work. And the only way to do great work is to love what you do. If you haven't found it yet, keep looking. Don't settle.”

This is great. However, this statement preceded it:

"Don’t lose faith. I’m convinced that the only thing that kept me going was that I loved what I did.”

It’s fairly clear that the “faith” spoken about here is faith in one’s self, not in God. In other words, “trust in your own abilities and in the hope that following your personal affections & desires will somehow work toward your personal success.” The book of Proverbs has something quite different for us:

“‘Trust the LORD with all your heart, and do not rely on your own understanding.” Prov. 3:5

“Follow Your Heart”
Here is what looks like some good advice from Steve Jobs:

“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.”

I understand the advice here. “Don’t try to be someone else or just lazily fulfill what others expect of you.” This is good in that it encourages creative thinking and frees up the individual to pursue greater things. No problem there. However, it’s the subtle and underlying, “follow your heart”, humanistic philosophy that troubles me. Here’s what the bible says regarding how we should trust our heart:

Jeremiah 17:9 (NIV)  “The heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure.”

I think the balance here is to follow your dreams, but always realize that your carnal human flesh will only seek to satisfy it’s own cravings, so seek and submit to follow the “dogma” found in the scriptures.

“Live For Today”

"If today were the last day of my life, would I want to do what I am about to do today?" Steve Jobs

This is good advice. Even the great American theologian Jonathan Edwards wrote in his 99 Resolutions:

19. Resolved, never to do anything, which I should be afraid to do, if I expected it would not be above an hour, before I should hear the last trump.

Which translated into American English means, “I vow to live in such a way, that I will always consider each moment of my life as if it were my very last.”
Steve also has this to say about death:

“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.”

My translation: “Live for the moment because that’s all there is, do what you want”

Steve: “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.”

My translation: “Death motivates me to remember that all I truly have is today.”
This is the logical conclusion that anyone without hope in God arrives at. “Live for the moment, Do what you want, Carpe Diem!” This is the philosophy of the Godless, for it totally contradicts the message of the bible, which is, “life is a vapor, and your eternity is all that really matters.”

* Here is an enlightening documentary on this philosophy and how it has been woven into our culture


Steve concluded with this quote: “Stay Hungry. Stay Foolish.”  I’m well aware that this quote is not meant to be taken literally, and represents an encouragement to stay creative and playful. I’m good with all that, and have given that advice to people myself. But I want to encourage everyone not to get caught up in the moment and neglect to be discerning when is comes to embracing ideas that run contrary to God’s Word, which is our only true source of wisdom.

So, instead of “Trust In Yourself, Follow Your Heart, and Live For Today”, I would say, “Trust Jesus, Follow Jesus, and Live for Jesus!”