Matthew 16:26 For what profit is it to a man if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul? Or what will a man give in exchange for his soul?
Like many, I read today’s headlines that described the passing of Apple founder Steve Jobs, with great interest. Although my interest was not in his financial fortune or how he rose to the top of his field. My interest was to scan the words describing his life to see if there was any evidence that he received Jesus Christ as his Lord and Savior.
Jesus said that if we gain the whole world and loose our own soul, what good was our success?
In the end, although the co-founder of Apple was perhaps one of the wealthiest men in the world, without Jesus Christ, it was all a complete loss for him. I want to be clear that I do not know the final outcome of Steve Jobs eternal state, and whether or not he receive Jesus as his Savior before the moment of his death. When I was a newly born Christian in the 70′s, I learned a phrase that came to mind in these moments of contemplation this morning.
“If you were arrested for being a Christian, would there be enough evidence to convict you?”
In the final word on Steve Jobs, was there ever any evidence that he knew Jesus or had surrendered his life to Him?
Today’s articles about the life of Steve Jobs reported that the evidence is that he was “a natural food lover who embraced Buddhism and New Age Philosophy…” (Reuters) If you go to the grave of Buddha today, his bones are still in the ground where they have remained since his death. If you go to the burial place of Jesus Christ, they will tell you that He is not there anymore, He rose from the dead. No other person can give us the hope of eternal life other than Jesus, because only He rose from the dead to promise us that if we trusted in Him, we would also raise to eternal life.
Neither Buddha or any doctrine from the New Age can save a person from their sins. Only the precious Blood of Jesus Christ has the eternal power to cleanse a man of all his sins and make him acceptable in the sight of God.
1 John 1:7 But if we walk in the light as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanses us from all sin.
Jesus warned that if we do not repent of our sins while alive in these bodies, that we will die in those sins and have no hope of eternal life after death.
John 8:24 Therefore I said to you that you will die in your sins; for if you do not believe that I am He, you will die in your sins.”
John was the disciple that was always close to Jesus. Even when the Lord was dying upon the cross, John stood at the feet of His cross and never left Him. John said this about Jesus:
1 John 5:12 He who has the Son has life; he who does not have the Son of God does not have life.
1John 5:13 These things I have written to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, that you may know that you have eternal life, and that you may continue to believe in the name of the Son of God.
At the time of his death, Steve Jobs was worth somewhere in the neighborhood of $351 Billion Dollars. You could spend about a billion dollars a day and it would take you almost an entire year to spend your fortune. By the world’s standards, Steve Jobs was a complete success story. But what if he accumulated all of that money, power and fame, only to leave it all behind and spend eternity in hell? What was the world’s success worth? What do you suppose that all this money, power and fame is worth to Steve Jobs today, if hell became his final destination?
Read the rest of the article at this link: http://www.bibleprophecyupdate.com/http:/www.bibleprophecyupdate.com/encouragement-in-the-last-days/to-gain-the-whole-world-but-loose-your-soul/