The Chairman

Everything we do has endless ripple effects on his life and her life and their lives and eventually on people we don't even know. I've believed this for a long time, but I came away from "The Adjustment Bureau" feeling that truth even more so.

We make choices every day. Some are mundane and send small ripples through society, especially the community in which we live. Others are life-changing decisions and we know it while we are making. And then there are still others that end up changing us, even if we don't know that's part of the plan.

The Plan.

"The Adjustment Bureau" answers to The Chairman. The case workers are responsible for making sure people, specifically Matt Damon's character David Norris in this case, stay on the plan, which is literally mapped out in a book. But as Norris figured out, these case workers don't always know why The Chairman outlined a plan. Ultimately, Norris believed the love of his life was worth more than anything else he had pursued, regardless of whether she was part of The Plan on the paper.

Likewise, we live life making decisions. We consult our spouse, our parents, our friends and hopefully our God. We decide in our heart what is worth pursuing and what's not, but we don't have case workers guiding us with a map. We have to have faith — being sure of what we hope for and certain of we don't see — in our Chairman, the one who created the world and knows our hearts.

In the movie, Norris says, "All I have are the choices I make." And that's true. We choose to love, to forgive, to obey, to rejoice. And those choices determine our attitude and actions.

We may not have a map that blinks a different color when we're off course, but we do have a God who fills our hearts with his Spirit so we can be convicted when we've strayed from his ways. Knowing God that way is another choice we make. Continually. And we have the freedom to know the Author of the plan that revealed to us moment by moment, decision by decision.

... In love he predestined us for adoption to sonship through Jesus Christ, in accordance with his pleasure and will — to the praise of his glorious grace, which he has freely given us in the One he loves. In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God’s grace that he lavished on us. With all wisdom and understanding, he made known to us the mystery of his will according to his good pleasure, which he purposed in Christ, to be put into effect when the times reach their fulfillment — to bring unity to all things in heaven and on earth under Christ.

In him we were also chosen, having been predestined according to the plan of him who works out everything in conformity with the purpose of his will, in order that we, who were the first to put our hope in Christ, might be for the praise of his glory.

--Ephesians 1:4-12

Sometimes the plan is a mystery. Life appears to be full of chance because we can't see the whole plan. Often we're left to trust the One we're serving, even when we sometimes have questions. We have a Chairman who cares about every last detail and wants us to choose him over and over again so that we can become more and more like His Son. Along the way, more of The Plan is revealed by The Chairman, who is indeed the author. And one day we'll meet him face to face.

David Norris wanted to find who wrote the book and take his love Elise through the door, even though he wasn't sure what was on the other side. That's faith in its purest sense.