How to Share Your Faith Using Click

By Jane Dratz, Christian Post Guest Columnist Tuesday, June 27, 2006

What if you had a universal remote that controlled your universe? The movie Click teases viewers with this impossible, but intriguing, idea. Michael Newman (Adam Sandler) portrays a workaholic architect whose life choices leave him with little time for his most important relationships. While shopping for a universal remote, Newman comes across a device that allows him to perform TV remote-type functions on his relationships and career. But with time the remote takes on an agenda of its own and overrules Newman's choices, further complicating his world.

While no one in their right mind thinks this kind of universal remote is looming in our future, in an odd, distorted sort of way Click may have stumbled onto a word picture that some people carry around about who God is and what He's like. Is God like an interested observer of the human drama - someone watching human lives unfold like a TV program, a glorified universal remote that somehow simultaneously exercises control over all human lives?

Or perhaps you know people who treat God as though He was their own personal cosmic butler - putting in an occasional quick request for His services and expecting Him to be at their beck and call. Or have you observed friends who behave as though God is a giant vending machine in the sky – putting in their currency (right beliefs, living a good life and saying a few quick prayers), making a selection and assuming He'll come through with the goods? These me-centered views of the God of the universe are an immense distortion of the holy, just, powerful, yet merciful God of the Bible.

In fact the Bible tells us some incredibly amazing things about who God is and what He's like – and this is a case where the truth may be stranger than fiction. While God is not like an all-powerful universal remote, a cosmic butler or a vending machine in the sky – He is the all-powerful, majestic God of the universe who passionately desires to have a personal relationship with each of us. His love for us is so immense that He sacrificed His Son in order to make a way for us to be restored to a full, life-giving relationship with God. Check out these verses that tell us over and over that our God is personal, loving and passionate about being in a relationship with His children:

• Roms 5:10-11 - "For since we were restored to friendship with God by the death of his Son while we were still his enemies, we will certainly be delivered from eternal punishment by his life. So now we can rejoice in our wonderful new relationship with God – all because of what our Lord Jesus Christ has done for us in making us friends of God." (NLT)
• Ex. 34:14 - "For he is a God who is passionate about his relationship with you."
• James 4:8 - "Draw close to God and God will draw close to you."

If you have friends who haven't experienced God on a personal, relational level, try using Click as a conversation starter for exploring who God is and what He's like. Here are some specific approaches you might consider:
• If you could somehow change the space-time continuum, would you want to have the ability to pause, fast-forward, or rewind events in your life?
• In Click the universal remote begins to develop its own 'agenda' and influence events. What do believe controls the events of your life?
o Do you?
o Does some higher power?
• Do you believe in God?
o What do you think He's like?
o Have you ever treated Him like a cosmic butler or giant vending machine in the sky?
o Did you realize He's not at all 'remote'? Share what the Bible has to say about God's passionate desire for a personal relationship with each of His children and His willingness to send His Son Jesus to make that possible.

Most people like to feel like they're in control. Without an understanding of the personal, just and loving God of the Bible who wants to draw His children into relationship with Him, the world can appear to be a scary, totally out-of-control place. As people grab hold of the Good News of God's love and forgiveness, the need to be in control of their own destiny recedes, while trust in God takes over. Help it happen in your world!
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Jane Dratz works for Dare 2 Share Ministries in Arvada, Colo., a ministry committed to energizing and equipping teens to know, live, share and own their faith in Jesus. For more information on Dare 2 Share Ministries, please visit www.dare2share.org. Find out how Dare 2 Share Ministries and Focus on the Family® are working together to capture the hearts of this generation of teenagers, visit www.capturetheirhearts.com. Send feedback to [email protected].