Frozen: Why All The Controversy?

I watched Frozen with my kids during Thanksgiving holidays. I LOVED it. I loved the positive message about True Love being sacrificial rather than romantic. The movie was refreshing, and had some great teachable moments. The sisters loved each other; tried to protect and care for each other. They made wrong choices, but ultimately, they sorted things out.

So imagine my surprise when I began seeing so much negativity circulating around this movie. Agendas called into question. Judgments made. Strife stirred. Isn’t that so like us humans? We gravitate to how something offends. We find the need to defend our God against…everything, really. I’m pretty sure my God can defend Himself.

Perhaps instead of searching for offense, we can look to what can be learned. Everything and everyone can teach us something even if it’s just why we believe what we believe. But why do we have to get so judgmental about it? Could it be a simple case of being made uncomfortable? We’d much rather hang out in the familiar and known, but I say, we can learn a lot if we step out of that safe place.

I’m not talking about compromising our Faith, but we are called to share the Gospel. In love. With grace. We focus so much on issues that we forget to really see the people around us. Where is our compassion? Jesus, beaten, flesh torn, dignity stripped looked down on everyone with compassion. With emotion in His voice, He cried out on there behalf: “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do!”

This alone should speak volumes on how we are to relate to the people that cross our path. We are to love them right where they’re at…and be the Light in their darkest moments.

So about Frozen…did you really think a secular movie would be perfect for Christians? For that matter, do you think a Christian one is? Of course there will be things that don’t quite line up to your beliefs…especially when even Christian’s differ on what they believe on various issues (there’s that word again).

Look around! We live in a fallen world. Darkness swirls around us. Evil threatens to harm us. And here we sit bickering over this little thing or that one. Oy vey, we spend so much energy fighting each other. Do you not see this diversion for what it is? I say: “Forgive them, for they know not Christ.” I hope I see with more compassion. I pray I see through Christ’s eyes towards everyone, even those who make me feel uncomfortable.

Perhaps we should focus on sharing the Gospel message and loving others right where they are. And let God work out their salvation. He will convict as He sees best. I. Am. Not. The. Holy. Spirit. I am to speak the words God puts on my heart when He prompts me to. That is it. My ire over something is not going to reach anyone. My offense is not loving them more than myself. Far from it, if I’m offended by something someone else does…I’m focused on myself. Because if I really cared about them, I’d go love on them. Not point fingers and spew piety.

Oh that we might love as Christ does. If we could only know His love so intimately it stripped away all pretense. If we allowed ourselves to be so overfilled with His love it might cascade over all around us. My heart bleeds over my own Pharisee heart smoothed over with a Christian bandaid. Time to rip that bandaid off, let healing take deep root, and spread my arms wide to embrace as Christ embraced.

Isn’t it funny that the ones Christ was most angry at were the religious? Something to think about…

And if you want to read a pretty cool post about the movie Frozen, check out What Frozen Is Really About over on Mercy River. What a beautifully written lesson we can learn.