Not all the same
October 6, 2011 (Thursday)
Steve Jobs was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer in 2003, but in determined fashion continued with his work for eight years. He died yesterday at the age of 56. I have no doubt that his name will be remembered for many generations. He made a difference and left his mark.
I minored in history in college, and learned that history is the story of great people. I recall a discussion in class about whether events shape people or people shape events. Of course, both things happen. Dictators and tyrants emerged from troubled junctures of historical movements. Events brought them into being; they only appeared to be leaders. They were manipulative people who wormed their way into leadership. If they had not become the “top dogs,” someone else would have emerged, because they were created by the times in which they lived.
On the other hand, truly great people actually change the course of history. Which ones they were will continue to be the subject of classroom discussions as students learn for themselves which ones were manipulators and which were innovators.
Just as secular history is the record of great people, so is Bible history. My Sunday School teacher, Robert Perry, gave everyone in the class a copy of the book, All the Men of the Bible and All the Women of the Bible (two books in one). The common thread that runs through the lives of the great servants of God is the total surrender of themselves to the will of God.
Success for the child of God is not necessarily measured by the world’s standards; success for him/her is knowing that God will someday say, “Well done!” I am convinced that many of those who will be praised by the Lord on that great day of judgment have been virtually unknown in this life. Jesus said it will happen that way, because “the last will be first, and the first will be last.” (Matthew 20:16).