Ron Hutchcraft Ministries - The Man with "What's Next?"

The image of a burning candle on an iPad. That's the kind of memorial some folks have come with to honor Steve Jobs after his death this week. How appropriate. He was the inventive genius and innovator marketer who brought the communications revolution from the "geekosphere" to something you could hold in your hand.

Bill Gates has described Steve Jobs' impact as "profound." News anchors are quick to say he "changed the world." Yes, he did. He was always a newsmaker when he walked on the Apple stage to introduce technology's "what's next?".

But now with Steve Jobs' passing, I find myself asking "what's next?" on a much deeper level. What's next on the other side of our last heartbeat, when the obituaries and tributes are for us?

Speaking at a Stanford University commencement, Steve Jobs said, "Death is the destination we all share. No one has ever escaped it." So right. A personal expiration date that God alone knows. And God's Book reveals that "man is destined to die once, and after that to face judgment" (Hebrews 9:27 ). So it's not only death that's inescapable. It's our personal appointment with the God who made us.

And at that point, as Jesus said, "What shall it profit a man if he shall gain the whole world and lose his own soul?" (Mark 8:36 ). Not even all the religion in the world will be enough because being right with God is "not by works of righteousness which we have done" (Titus 3:5 ).

I'm feeling a certain sadness today, not just because of one man's death, but because of so many lives that are more wired than ever, but more weary of life than ever. No technology, no amount of Facebook "friends," no exciting new experience or relationship can satisfy the relentless thirst of our empty hearts. There's a reason. "God has set eternity in the hearts of men" (Ecclesiastes 3:11 ). We are forever searching for something that's "ever lasting" in a world where it's all so "never lasting."

When Jesus was talking at a well to a woman whose life was littered with disappointing relationships, He used the well as an example to tell us all how to fill the "eternity" hole in our heart. "Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again (and, sure enough, we are). But whoever drinks the water I give him will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life" (John 4:13 ).

Jesus can promise life that's "eternal" because He proved He's got it to give. Because His obituary quickly became old news - when He walked out of His grave and conquered what no one could conquer - death. But it was His death that made our "what's next?" nothing to fear. "Christ died for our sins" (Romans 5:8 ) and tore down the wall that will otherwise keep us out of God's heaven - and make our last heartbeat, not the gateway to an awesome eternity, but an awful eternity.

Jesus stepped out of heaven and onto the stage of earth to introduce what only He could - eternal life. And He offers the amazing peace and fulfillment of knowing you are ready to live and ready to die. Whenever and however it comes. So what we do with Him - whether we give ourselves to Him or stubbornly insist on being our god for our life - is immeasurably decisive. Forever.

I accepted Jesus' invitation to "believe in Him" and "have eternal life" (John 3:16 ). So my obituary will not be the end. It's only the beginning.