Click

Click stars Adam Sandler as Michael Newman, Kate Beckinsale as Donna Newman, Christopher Walken as Morty (the angel of death), David Hasselhoff as Ammer (Michael's boss), and Sean Astin as Bill (the guy who will steal Donna away if Michael doesn't shape up).

Michael is a father, a husband and an architect. He would like to excel at all these roles simultaneously, but he discovers that time will not permit. He tends to neglect his family in favor of advancing his career in the architecture firm, which he is doing so he can care for his family, and on and on. Right when circumstances become overwhelming, he gets the break of a lifetime: A man named Morty (who is actually the angel of death) gives him a magical remote control that allows him to alter the world around him. In particular, his new remote allows him to stop or speed up time. Much to Michael’s surprise, however, this special remote was never meant to make his life easier… it was meant to teach him a lesson about true value.

On at least a weekly basis I think about how nice it would be to accomplish everything I want to accomplish right now. I wish I had a special stopwatch to stop everything for a day or two so I might sit down and finish more work than regular time will permit. "If only I could get everything done now!”

There is a solution to my time-management dilemma: I should trust God. He specialized in redeeming lost time. Apart from Him time is my enemy.

It's helpful to remember that God's definition of “accomplishment” is not what I would expect naturally. Mortal men measure their accomplishments by how much money they accumulate, by the number of people they have working under them or by how many skyscrapers they’ve built. But, from God's perspective, this is tragically short-sighted.

What happens to these buildings eventually? They crumble and disintegrate. What happens to money eventually? It’s either stolen or it becomes worthless when the society upholding that money ceases to exist. What happens to all humans eventually? We die.

Think about these two facts:

1. We were made to wear out in a hundred years or less.

2. We will never be perfect.

These should help us remember this encouraging truth: God wants us to concentrate on the living process. The ends don’t justify the means... the means are our end. This should be a huge relief to people trying to orchestrate their lives before their lives actually happen.

At the end of Click, Michael Newman finds out that he has missed out on the best things in life by concentrating too much on the future. In particular, he was already rich and successful because of his loving family. He discovers that he should enjoy his present success by blessing his family and allowing his family to bless him.

***

The fact that God values the process should encourage the average working person. There is a healthy kind of discontentment, true. We should want to improve ourselves and the world around us. However, the best way to improve ourselves and the world around us is to make the most of today. This means more than just working hard... we should also be deliberately joyful and content. As we live every day purposefully focused on God, working with whatever He has apportioned us, we will grow up into spiritual wisdom and bless the people around us. This hints at our highest purpose for existing, which is to honor God with our daily lives.

That God values the process, or how we live on a daily basis, is related to the general truth that “What we do today is what we will be tomorrow.”

This should also affect the way Christians try to improve the world. Christians have learned from the world how to be excessively fixated on distant goals that might happen someday. Of course, plans and goals are good. But our most basic purpose for living is to obey God right now. Our best game plan, therefore, is to maintain a prayerful and contented mindset, enjoying God as well as whatever circumstances He has placed us in. We should take advantage of present opportunities to love others unconditionally and speak the truth with a clear conscience. God has afforded each one of us a purposeful sphere of influence, therefore let us trust and obey Him right now, wherever we are, and leave the rest up to him.

***

"Come now, you who say, "Today or tomorrow we will go into such and such a town and spend a year there and trade and make a profit" — you do not know what tomorrow will bring. What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little time and then vanishes. Instead you ought to say, "If the Lord wills, we will live and do this or that."

-- James 4:13-15