The Narrow takes Steve Jobs to task for "undertones" of Eastern mysticism, post modernism and self centredness in a commencement speech lauded by Michelle Malkin's Words of Wisdom. Narrow can't understand what all the fuss is about. Other Christian bloggers are also negative on Jobs' speech

Instead, I say lets celebrate the "undertones" of God's grace in Steve Jobs' story 

A person's story, no matter how devoid of faith it may appear, is actually a story of God at work. There is no part of creation where Christ is not present and at work. (Colossians 1:15-20). Each human being is created in God's image (Genesis 1:26-27) and has the potential to glorify God in their life (Isaiah 43:5-8). God even uses fallen human beings to care for his created order. I respectfully submit that this is exactly what He has done with Steve Jobs.

As he tells it, Jobs started life as an unwanted child. If there were ultrasounds that could tell the sex of the child in those days and his mother was predisposed to abortion then, perhaps, there would be no Steve Jobs and no Apple Computer and perhaps our world would be a very different place.  

God brought Steve Jobs into the world and has used him to order his creation wisely. Rather than minimizing Jobs' story because of the "undertones" of eastern mysticism, why not celebrate it for the "undertones" of God at work amazingly preserving his life and enabling him to make something of it, something that has been immensely beneficial in our world!

Narrow's second criticism is the postmodern tone of Jobs' message. N T Wright has said post modernism is God's judgment on arrogant modern thinking that separates object from subject and creates an abstract artificial non authentic world. I fear my fellow blogger is living in just such a world when he says "If there is no objective watcher over the world, then how can one have trust in the context he has framed it?"

Charlie Peacocke, song writer and Christian music producer for several generations of Christian musical artists, has written a provocative book entitled “New Way to be Human.” You can find the first chapter here. He likens Christian objectivism to a "small, unique closed system" in which "anything other than absolute, unqualified, mathematically certifiable certainty betrayed a soul adrift."

By dropping out of college, Jobs was a "adrift" and able to "follow his curiosity" and discover something "beautiful, historical, artistic," something that objective science "can't capture." This is what produced the design of the Mac Computer that changed our world. It is also the way in which great music like "Handel's messiah" was written and great art like Da Vinci's "Last Supper"  was painted.

My fellow blogger then goes after Jobs for exalting work. Jobs states "Your work is going to fill a large part of your life, and 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."

I think Jobs is right on! But the Narrow thinks

"This is a sad statement. Here, he makes the assertion that happiness comes from and is encompassed in your job. I completely disagree. Of course, your job is a big influence, but it's not the genesis of happiness. I would also disagree that you have to find what you love. I would say the majority of people in the workforce don't love what they do. I am one of them and I am profoundly happy because my happiness isn't tied to my job. Jesus Christ is where I put my faith and receive my happiness. Then, he asserts that you can only do great work if you love what you do. Doubtful."

One is not to worship one's work, but the Bible teaches us that whatever we do, do it with all of our heart, as if unto the Lord. (Colossians 3:20-22) Jobs is NOT suggesting we worship our work, but he is challenging the students to do great work. To do great work, you must work at it with all of your heart.

The reason why many Christians are unhappy at work is that they are living a divided life. They consider their work "secular." To them it is a place where God is absent.  It is not a happy place. It is something to be endured. The other area is the "sacred." It is where they follow Jesus. This is where they find happiness.

The problem is that God never divided the world into two arenas, the secular and the sacred. This dualism is born of Greek thinking and embraced by a modern mindset. (See my post on Christian dualism.) Christians unhappy at work is as much a spiritual problem as people worshipping  work.

Finally, my fellow blogger takes Jobs to task on his view of life and death. I don't agree with Jobs statement " that death is very likely the single best invention of Life." Jobs gets this wrong, but his application is right on. Death "clears out the old to make room for the new." Death is God's judgment on evil, but it is not a judgment that God meats out to people lightly. It is a judgment that He himself endured in the person of Jesus so that we could have life abundantly.

I do agree with the statement by The Narrow "that death isn't life's change agent, but rather Christ is." This is very true and Jobs stands to be corrected on that.

Yet, my fellow blogger stands to be corrected on his suspicion that Jobs' story is too self centred and therefore too humanistic.

God made us to be human. Being human is what we are designed for. Human beings have stories. We hear Jobs story as an authentic human story and we ought to celebrate that story. Jobs is telling the graduates to live as authentic human beings! That is a good thing! When we do that, we are doing what God designed us to do.

The problem is when we do this unto ourselves and not unto the Lord. This is sin. Sin dehumanizes us. The Cross of Christ is God's NO to sin. The death of Christ was intended to deal with sin once and for all so as to give us our humanity back.  

The resurrection is God's YES to humanity. Jesus was, is and is to come as a HUMAN BEING! When we are raised from the dead, we will have our full and complete humanity restored which includes physicality and the things that go along with that physicality like work. When Jesus appeared to his disciples after his resurrection he had a body, he broke bread, he ate fish, he walked, he talked, and he cooked breakfast. Just like Jesus, after the resurrection, we will be working and we will happy to be working. This is part of what it means to be human.

Who knows if Steve Jobs will be resurrected to life in Christ or to eternal death. I hope and pray that he will be there with Christ on that day. But even if he is not, his human life has been used of God to change the world for better and Jobs' humanity will be celebrated in eternity. As a Christian, I am glad to hear his story and I celebrate the evident work of God that I see in it.