”What is your life? It is a mist that appears for a little while.
Then it disappears.”
James 4:14
When I first heard about Steve Jobs death I was working Oracle OpenWorld in San Francisco (October 5, 2011). I had walked up to the Apple Store near Union Square to buy a couple of iPod’s for our booth giveaways and found the store shrouded in candles with employees walking around like zombies, unwilling to accept the news. It was as if the store needed to stop operations and pause to reflect. But the iPhone 4s had just been announced a day earlier and they were selling like hot cakes, with swarms of people showing up like bees to honey. Jobs was clearly one of the most instrumental leaders in the history of Silicon Valley.
Walter Isaacson’s biography “Steve Jobs” was released just a few weeks after, and I immediately picked up a copy and dove into the account of his life. Jobs and I were born within a month of each other, so I was more than curious to hear his story and especially to better understand his genius. In the words of Isaacson,
“Steve Jobs stands as the ultimate icon of inventiveness and applied imagination. He knew that the best way to create value in the twenty-first century was to connect creativity with technology.“
I devoured the book and was fascinated with how his career paralleled the growth of Silicon Valley as the personal computer (PC) was invented and the Internet economy was born. But there was an element of Steve Jobs personality that made me quite sad and deeply stirred my passion around the work/life balance theme. At times, Jobs could be described as a sociopathic monster in his handling of people. His unruly antics were well documented in Isaacson’s biography, along with several movies, which followed. I think most would agree, he reached the top of the mountain, but that it came at a serious price to many who were with him.
Just looking at a short list of products Steve Jobs produced in his career at Apple is quite extraordinary. What he was able to accomplish in 56 short years on this planet was nothing short of astonishing.
Apple I, 1976—Macintosh, 1984—iMac, 1998—iPod, 2001—iTunes, 2003—iPhone, 2007— iPad, 2010 …
But I have to ask, was as it worth it? At what price success? Did he build a life of eternal significance?
I really don’t know. Only God can answer those questions.
What I have discovered is that everything we do here in this life on earth matters.
Forever.
Heaven really can’t wait, and this post is about helping us to understand why.
As good as we know Heaven will be (see: Begin with the End in Mind & Opening Day in Paradise), there is one significant point that is missing in this discussion: Heaven does not begin when you die, it begins right now, today. To put it in Silicon Valley vernacular, it is happening in real-time as you read this.
Every day we live on this earth is impacting our life in Heaven for eternity.
Folks, this is BIG.
I lived most of my Christian life without truly grasping it.
If your aim is to build a life of eternal significance, this is a momentous point.
According to research, we can spend up to 90,000 hours at work in our lifetime. In Silicon Valley, that is a conservative estimate (based on a 40-hour work week – ha!). Does it matter how we spend that time? After all, we do need to earn a living and provide for the family. What does it matter how we go about doing that and why should we really care?
Jesus made it clear in Matthew 16:27 that there is a direct connection between what you do in this life and the life you spend in Heaven:
“For the Son of Man is going to come in his Father’s glory with his angels, and then he will reward each person according to what they have done.”
Just to be blatant, lets review that again:
“… and then he will reward each person according to what they have done.”
As it turns out, this promise is not an isolated incident; there are other examples in the Bible of Jesus telling us what we are doing here on earth really matters once we get to Heaven:
- Luke 6:23: “Rejoice in that day and leap for joy, because great is your reward in heaven.”
- Matthew 19:21: “You will have a treasure in heaven.”
- Luke 14:14: “You will be blessed… for you shall be repaid at the resurrection.”
- Matthew 5:12: “Rejoice and be glad, because great is your reward in heaven…”
God is keeping track of us as we live out our life here on earth.
And eventually (when we get to Heaven), He will reward us for how well we’ve lived our life on earth.
To avoid confusion, I need to mention that this “rewards” thing is not about doing good works on earth, in order to get to Heaven. The Bible is very explicit that getting to Heaven is strictly an act of faith, not an act of works. Paul makes this point quite powerfully throughout the book of Romans (see Romans 3:21-26), and one of the more renowned verses in all of the Bible, which even shows up on the bottom of my In-N-Out vanilla shake cup, states this quite clearly:
Jesus tells us about these rewards waiting in Heaven multiple times, in various contexts. In my years of studying the Bible, I have learned to pay very close attention to anything Jesus tells us repeatedly. This is undoubtedly one of them. And yet it seems to be one of the most overlooked aspects of Christian life. In my experience, this is not something that gets much attention or discussion in church either. But it carries eternal value for us, beyond the mist that disappears.
There are numerous books written on this subject. One of my favorites is Bruce Wilkinson’s “A Life God Rewards, Why Everything You Do Today Matters Forever”, which really hits this topic head on. It’s a small book and a very quick read.
Wilkinson opens the book to explain the positioning between our beliefs (faith) versus our works (behavior):
“The teachings of Jesus show us that there are two keys to determine everything about your eternity. The first key is your belief. This key unlocks the door to eternal life and determines where you will spend eternity. The second key is your behavior. It unlocks the door to reward and determines how you will spend eternity.”
It’s this second key (your behavior on earth) that I am referring to here. Jesus is telling us that our behavior on earth will result in “rewards” or “treasures” in Heaven. For eternity.
The Greek root of “rewards” is “misthos”, which translates to “wages”.
In essence, Jesus is telling us we are going to get paid for our time here on earth and that it will have eternal value. It’s almost as if we have a savings account for our good behavior on earth that will pay out when we get to Heaven. And Jesus is the one who will sign the check.
Wilkinson explains further the impact this should have on us now:
“…by the time you’re done reading [“A Life God Rewards”], you’ll approach daily life in a dramatically different way. Simple decisions, such as how you spend your time and money, will become opportunities of great promise. And you will begin to live with an unshakable certainty that everything you do today matters forever… the harvest you produce will directly impact your experience in eternity.”
We could have a lengthy discussion on what those rewards (wages) might look like in Heaven. What I do know about Jesus, I feel pretty confident the rewards will be worth the effort, so I’ll leave that discussion for a future post.
But regarding our desired behavior here on earth, Jesus addressed that quite often throughout the Bible. Probably the most famous talk he gave on this subject is the Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5-7). The first ten verses (called the Beatitudes) tell us a lot about the behavior Jesus values (Matthew 5:1-10):
Sermon on the Mount by Carl Bloch (1876)
1Now when Jesus saw the crowds, he went up on a mountainside and sat down. His disciples came to him, 2and he began to teach them.
3“Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
4Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted.
5Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth.
6Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled.
7Blessed are the merciful, for they will be shown mercy.
8Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God.
9Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God.
10Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
I find it intriguing that “the kingdom of Heaven” frames this section of Jesus’ speech. I think Jesus was making a point.
And no surprise, which topic Jesus mentions next in verse 12?
“Rejoice and be glad, because great is your reward in heaven”…
These words rock the life we are living today here in Silicon Valley. Jesus is telling us we need a transformation of our character to right the ship here on earth. Radical change is required to live this. To put it in surfing terms, conducting your life that way today requires paddling against the incoming tide. Everything around us is telling us to go the other way. In the words of Matthew 16:26:
“What good will it be for someone to gain the whole world, yet forfeit their soul?”
In the final few paragraphs of Isaacson’s book on Steve Jobs (Chapter 42; “Legacy: The Brightest Heaven of Invention”), Jobs reflected on death,
“I’m about fifty-fifty on believing in God. For most of my life, I’ve felt that there must be more to our existence than meets the eye. But on the other hand, perhaps it’s like an on-off switch. Click! And you’re gone. Maybe that’s why I never liked to put on-off switches on Apple devices.”
For me, I’ll take the on-off switch.
Our life truly is a mist that appears for a little while, and then quickly fades (James 14:4). I want Heaven to be proud of my life here on earth when I get there. I believe the work each of us is doing in our life here on earth is helping to construct the kingdom of Heaven. Nothing is ever lost (or wasted) with God. Everything we do on earth will build on our eternal life we spend in Heaven with God. Every second really does matter.
In his book “The Real Heaven, What the Bible Actually Says”, Chip Ingram frames it this way, with a picture of a dot connected to a line:
“When you get a clear picture of your future, it will change your perspective of your trials and struggles today. Its like the analogy used by C.S. Lewis. All of eternity can be compared to a continuous line that has no beginning and no end, and all of human history is like a tiny dot on that line. And inside the dot of human history there is a microscopic dot that represents all of your life here on this earth. So, the question I want to ask you is, are you living for the dot or for the line?”
Playing Maximus in the movie “Gladiator”, Russell Crowe summed it up well by saying:
“What you do in this life echo’s through eternity”
*RESOURCES*
Christian Leaders on Eternal Rewards:
- Charles R. Swindoll:
“…He promises a reward. And we can be sure He will keep His promise.” - Jonathan Edwards:
“There are many mansions in God’s house because heave is intended for various degrees of honor and blessedness.” - Charles H. Spurgeon:
“Seek secrecy for your good deeds.” - Theodore H. Epp:
“God is eager to reward us and does everything possible to help us lay up rewards.” - John MacArthur Jr.:
“There will be varying degrees of reward in heaven. That shouldn’t surprise us: There are varying degrees of giftedness even here on earth.” - John Wesley:
“God will reward everyone according to his works.” - R.C. Sproul:
“If a person has been faithful in many things through many years, then he will be acknowledged by His Master, who will say to him, “Well done, thou good and faithful servant… there are at least twenty-five occasions where the New Testament clearly teaches that we will be granted rewards according to our works.” - Billy Graham:
“… and the work we have done must stand the ultimate test; final exams come at the Judgment Seat of Christ when we receive our rewards.” - Martin Luther:
“Therefore, he who does good works and guards himself against sin, God will reward.”
Steve Jobs by Walter Isaacson
If you want to understand the man behind the Apple I & II, Mac, iMac, iPod, iTunes, iPhone, iPad, Apple stores and a lot more, this book is a page burner for you. And it provides a nice backdrop on the history of Silicon Valley during the internet boom years, which continue to this day.
“A Life God Rewards, Why Everything You Do Today Matters Forever” by Bruce Wilkinson
Wilkinson connects the dots between what you are doing today and what you will experience after you die. It is a quick read, and guaranteed to get you thinking more about how what you do today really matters. Forever!
“The Real Heaven, What the Bible Actually Says” by Chip Ingram
Chip Ingram is a pastor of over 25 years in Los Gatos, California, and has written twelve books at last count. He is an easy to understand communicator about truth of the Bible. His premise with this book is to outline what God actually wants us to know and understand about Heaven, and to show how Heaven actually should be impacting our lives today.