There aren’t too many Adam Sandler movies that have a deep message behind them, but the movie Click is one of them. In the movie, Sandler’s character, Michael Newman, gets a magical remote that lets him control time and even fast forward through parts of his life. He starts out slow, but then starts skipping through more and more of the hard and tedious parts of his life. Eventually, he comes to realize that he skipped most of his life and wishes he could get back the time he lost.
Just like Michael Newman, we too sometimes want to skip the hard parts of life and get right to the good stuff. There have been times in my life where I have been tasked with doing something hard or uncomfortable and I wished that Jesus would come back right then and there to take me to Heaven. Then, I wouldn’t have to go through the trial that I was trying to avoid. Now, looking back at those times, I can see that I am glad that I went through those tough moments. I have experienced so many more good moments in life that I would have missed if my wish had come true.
Just as my kids don’t get dessert until after they first eat their dinner, we also have obligations to perform in this life in order to reap the rewards of Heaven. Don’t be focused on just getting ourselves to Heaven, but also help others to get there as well. The more people who make it to Heaven, the bigger the feast. We can’t expect to just coast through life while avoiding everything unpleasant, and expect to be rewarded in Heaven. There are no saints who got that title by doing nothing and dodging responsibility. Usually, the saints are people who suffered and gave up much in order to serve God and others.
We all should want to get to Heaven, but it shouldn’t be at the expense of missing out on life. We might have 100 years in this life, if we are lucky. In Heaven, we will be there for all eternity and our Earthly life will seem so short. Let’s all face the challenges in life and work to do our part to make the world a better place. Then, when we have done all that we can do, we can finally recline as a saint in Heaven.
