Scripture: Matthew 11:28-30; Romans 8:31-39
The movie Frozen is mostly about two sisters who are daughters of a king and queen in Scandinavia. One of those daughters, as you’ll see, has an unusual gift…
[Show Clip #1.]
The chief troll asks Elsa’s father, the king, about Elsa’s power to create snow and ice. He asks, “Born with the powers or cursed?” The father responds, “Born.” But the truth is, for most of the movie we’re left wondering whether these powers with which Elsa is born are also, in fact, a curse. It certainly feels like a curse… to both Elsa and her parents as she’s growing up. Granted, her parents don’t help the situation by locking her away in her room—isolating her from everyone, including her beloved sister Anna.
But it’s clear that for most of her early life, Elsa experienced this potentially amazing gift—this great blessing—as a curse.
Do you ever feel like the the gifts that God has given you—or the circumstances in which you find yourself—or, to put in the most secular, least biblical way possible—the “cards you’ve been dealt”—are a curse rather than a blessing?
It’s easy to see why you might feel that way…
And the apostle Paul might also have felt that way about his own life… if he didn’t understand that every moment of his life was in God’s hands, that God was in control, that God was working all circumstances for his good.
In Acts chapter 21, Paul is on his way to Jerusalem for the last time. Along the way he visits two churches. At the first, Luke tells us, “Through the Spirit [prophets in the church] were telling Paul not to go on to Jerusalem”—because he was going to suffer there.[1] At the second, a prophet named Agabus takes Paul’s belt, ties up his own hands and feet, and says, “Thus says the Holy Spirit: This is how the Jews at Jerusalem will bind the man who owns this belt and deliver him into the hands of the Gentiles.”[2]
These prophecies are true. Paul really will suffer. He’ll lose his freedom, spend the rest of his life in Roman custody, and ultimately be executed.
But here’s the mistake these well-meaning Christians make: They assume that because the road ahead is painful, it can’t possibly be God’s will.
“Don’t go, Paul! It’s too dangerous. It costs too much. It doesn’t make sense.”
But Paul knows better… And so should we.
God often brings us into circumstances that test our faith—not because he delights in making life difficult, but because—as any great athlete knows—growth comes through struggle and pain rather than comfort and ease.
And the tests God sends our way often amount to something like this:
“Who are you going to trust? Yourself—your own wisdom, your own instincts, your own experience? What you can see and feel? Or are you going to trust me? Even when it’s costly? Even when it’s painful? Even when it doesn’t make perfectsense?”
One man who’s doing a nice job of enduring a difficult test in his life right now is the now-retired senator from Nebraska, Ben Sasse. He’s 54 years old and dying of pancreatic cancer. He’s also a Presbyterian and a man of deep Christian faith. When asked in a recent interview if he’s sorry God hasn’t answered his prayers for healing, he says,
I wouldn’t want a sovereign God to defer to all of my prayers with a yes. I’m not omniscient. I don’t know what the weaving together of the tapestry of full redemption should look like, but I know going through the period of suffering that I’m going through is a benefit because it is a winnowing.[3]
Winnowing means sanctification—that God is getting rid of all the sin, all the bad stuff, that’s still inside of him. He said, “I’m filled with dross.” This stuff that needs to be burned away in the furnace of God’s discipline. Sasse knows that God is sanctifying him through this experience.
And why does Sasse say he needs sanctification? Because “things are not right in my soul.
My soul thinks Ben should be God, and I want that to die. Cancer [stinks]. But I’m pretty grateful that cancer is [ridding me of my] delusional self-idolatry.”
God doesn’t merely save us right now merely for an afterlife that begins after we die. No—if sin is really our biggest problem in life—and it is—then God loves us too much to keep us in this place where we continue to harm ourselves and others with our sin. So he begins changing us now. And one important way he does so is through difficult trials that we endure.
The apostle James, Jesus’ brother, said, “Count it all joy, my brothers [and sisters] when we meet trials of various kinds, for we know that the testing of our faith produces steadfastness. And let steadfastness have its full effect, that we may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.”[4]
So we trust him…
Elsa’s parents respond to their particular test in the worst way possible: by giving in to fear. Rather than pray and seek God’s guidance to work with Elsa, to teach her to control her powers —Elsa’s parents make the seemingly easier choice: “We’re just going to lock her away for the next ten years or so—keep her out of harm’s way, keep her away from temptation, keep her away from people she loves, keep her away from her sister, and hope for the best!”
Fear promises us an easier path. It never delivers one.
The strange thing is that God’s hardest path—if we only have the courage to take it—often turns out, in the long run, to be the one that produces deeper happiness and joy.
The next clip takes place when Elsa is 21. Her parents have died in a shipwreck at sea, and today Elsa is being coronated as queen. Her secret powers have remained a secret from everyone thus far, even her beloved but impulsive sister Anna.
Anna, meanwhile, has just asked permission of Elsa, the queen, to marry a man whom she literally just met earlier that day. And Elsa says no… An argument ensues…
[Show Clip #2.]
In our modern age, we think that the secret to happiness is simply “letting go” of all the constraints that hold us back—to get in touch with what’s inside of us, to do what comes naturally, to follow our hearts.
“It’s time to see what I can do,” Elsa sings. “To test the limits and break through. No right, no wrong, no rules for me, I’m free!”
But is this really freedom?
Years ago, my wife, Lisa, had a 16-year-old student in her class who played violin… very well. This young woman played her violin in a musical at Lisa’s school. My young daughter was in the musical too, so I went to see it.
And this violinist was very good. After the show, when I was introduced to her, I complimented her. I said, “You were great! You didn’t sound screechy at all.”
I don’t know why I put it that way; I was just trying to make small talk. I sometimes say dumb things when I’m trying to make small talk. I wasn’t trying to damn this young woman with faint praise. But, in my experience—I don’t know—teenage violinists sometimes sound screechy, let’s face it.
So she looked at me, completely deadpan, and said, “Thank you. I practice four hours a day every weekday—eight hours a day on Saturdays and Sundays—and I’ve been doing so for ten years.”
Um… No wonder you didn’t sound screechy…?
My point is, if you’re going to spend thirty-six hours a week becoming great at something, that hardly means “letting go,” or “doing whatever you please,” or “following your heart.” On the contrary, it means placing constraints on yourself. It means choosing not to do other things you might rather do in the moment. It means often telling your heart “no.” Not because you love rules—but because you love music.
And what did all those years of discipline give this person? A deeper kind of freedom. She became free to play any piece of music she wanted. Nothing would be beyond her ability. Nothing would hold her back from doing what she loved most.
That’s freedom!
If that’s true of learning the violin, why wouldn’t it also be true of following Christ?
God made every human heart to treasure Christ above everything else. Sin didn’t erase that design—but it bent our loves in the wrong direction.
So Jesus came to set us free… free to become the people we were created to be… free to love what we were created to love.
But this freedom, Jesus says, requires us to put on his yoke. “Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me… For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.”[5]
A yoke is a wooden crosspiece fastened to an animal’s neck so it can pull a plow. We put on Christ’s yoke so that he can lead us where he wants us to go. A yoke, by definition, limits our freedom. That’s why Paul can say we are set free by Christ even while also calling himself a slave of Christ.
Why would anyone willingly accept a yoke? Because on the other side of obedience is the freedom we were made for. We don’t wear Christ’s yoke because we love having our freedom restricted. We wear Christ’s yoke because we love Christ—and because only he can lead us into true and lasting joy.
Elsa believes that running away, trusting her own instincts, and “letting it go” will finally make her free. Instead, she’ll discover that freedom apart from truth always becomes another kind of prison.
In this next clip, we’ll see that her sister, Anna, isn’t willing simply to let Elsa go.
[Show Clip #3.]
Anna grew up as a princess—and as we’ve seen, she lived a very sheltered life. There was nothing in her background, as far as we know, that especially prepared her for the task of rescuing her sister, Elsa. But you’ve got to hand it to Anna. Whatever else she is or isn’t… she isn’t afraid.
She believes she can succeed in rescuing her sister against all odds!
Let me talk about fear and faith for a moment by turning our attention to Judges 17.
Judges takes place after Joshua’s death and before Israel had kings. It was a dark period in Israel’s history, marked by idolatry and lawlessness. As the author repeatedly reminds us, “In those days there was no king in Israel. Everyone did what was right in his own eyes.”
One of those people was a man named Micah.
Micah carved idols out of silver and worshiped them in a shrine he built in his own home. Then, to make matters worse, he hired a Levite to serve as his personal priest. Levites were the tribe God had set apart to lead Israel’s worship and serve in the tabernacle—and later the temple.
Now listen to verses 12 and 13:
And Micah ordained the Levite, and the young man became his priest… Then Micah said, “Now I know that the Lord will prosper me, because I have a Levite as priest.”
Everything Micah is doing is completely contrary to God’s law. He’s a wicked idolater. I’m not defending anything he does.
But in one respect, Micah surprises me.
He acts in a way that’s consistent with what he believes. He has a kind of faith, and he lives by it.
His faith is corrupt. It’s superstitious. It’s self-serving. It certainly won’t save him. But he believes that if he’s close to someone who is himself close to God, then he’ll have God’s favor. If he’s friends with someone who’s a “close personal friend” of God, then God will surely bless him too!
Now, of course, he’s completely wrong. God cannot be manipulated. A Levite isn’t a lucky charm.
But here’s the question that convicts me: Do I behave in ways that are as consistent with my faith as Micah does?
Unlike Micah, after all, I belong to Jesus Christ.
Yet how often do I fail to believe that the Lord is going to take care of me, to provide everything I need, to do mighty things in me and through me by teh power of the Holy Spirit?
Too often, I’m afraid.
And that’s strange when you think about it. Because unlike Micah, I don’t merely have someone who’s close to God. I have God himself.
According to the Bible, Jesus Christ is praying for me, interceding for me, advocating for me before the Father. The Holy Spirit—the very Spirit of Christ—lives within me. Through Christ I’ve been adopted into God’s family as one of his beloved sons. My heavenly Father loves me as his child, and Jesus says that if sinful earthly fathers know how to give good gifts to their children, how much more will our heavenly Father give good gifts to those who ask him.
Do we even believe it?
Psalm 118:6: “The Lord is on my side; I will not fear. What can man do to me?” Do we even believe it?
Romans 8:31: “What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us?”
Do we even believe it?
Philippians 4:19: “And my God will supply every need of yours according to his riches in glory in Christ Jesus.”
Do we even believe it?
Jesus says, “Seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness and all these things will be added to you.” Matthew 6:33.
Do we even believe it?
If so, why do we worry so much? Why are we anxious so often? Why are we so often afraid? Why do we so often feel sorry for ourselves?
Because Christ lives within us, we have everything we need to face every battle God calls us to fight. In Christ we are more than conquerors.
But do we really believe it?
You saw in the video that, through a terrible accident, Elsa strikes her sister with her ice magic—not in the head this time, like when they were children, but in the heart.
Anna is now dying. Her heart is freezing. Her hair is turning white. She is slowly turning to ice.
In the final clip, the chief troll tells Anna and Kristoff that “only an act of true love can thaw a frozen heart.”
Anna assumes that means a kiss from Hans—the man she plans to marry. But Hans doesn’t love her at all. He’s only using her to seize the kingdom. Meanwhile, Hans’s men have captured Elsa, and now both sisters’ lives are in danger.
And by the way… you’re about to meet Olaf, the living snowman—who is wonderful.
[Show Clip #4.]
Notice Anna was given a choice. The man who loved her, Kristoff, was running toward her. If she had stayed where she was, he would have caught up to her, kissed her, and Anna would have been healed. Instead, what does she do? She puts herself in between her sister and the man who’s going to kill her. She dies in place of Elsa.
But notice how her death saves Elsa. She becomes ice. And in doing so, she breaks the sword meant to kill Elsa and knocks the wicked man Hans unconscious. It’s as if she takes her sister’s icy affliction upon herself—and lets herself become ice—so that her sister can be saved.
Brothers and sisters, Jesus does something similar for us! Paul says, “For our sake [God] made him [Jesus] to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.”[6] The sin that had infected our hearts, for which we ourselves deserved death, Christ took upon himself and died in our place. This is an act of love that will melt the coldest heart.
Except… not to be overly critical of an otherwise excellent movie… But there is one enormous difference between Anna’s sacrifice and Christ’s.
Elsa asks, “You sacrificed yourself for me?” Anna simply replies, “I love you.” And she proved that love… As Olaf had said earlier, “Some people are worth melting for.”
Of course Anna thought Elsa was worth melting for. Elsa was her sister, after all. They had shared a lifetime of memories together. Anna knew Elsa’s heart. She knew that beneath all the fear and mistakes, Elsa was a good person.
So of course Anna believed Elsa was worth dying for.
But let me ask you something: Would Anna have died for Hans?
For that man who pretended to love her… that man who abandoned her to die… that man who was about to murder her sister?
Would Anna have sacrificed herself for him?
Of course not.
And no one would expect her to. Hans wasn’t worth melting for… dying for… Not even close.
And that’s exactly where the comparison to Jesus’ sacrifice breaks down.
Because Jesus didn’t die for people who were “worth melting for.”
He died for people who rejected him. He died for people who mocked him. He died for people who nailed him to a cross. He died for his enemies. He died for people like Hans. He died for people like you and me.
As the apostle John writes, “This is real love—not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as a sacrifice to take away our sins.”[7]
And that’s why the gospel is way better than Frozen. Anna gave her life for someone she loved. Jesus gave his life for people who didn’t love him at all…
Until, by his grace, his love melted our frozen hearts.
[1] Acts 21:4b ESV
[2] Acts 21:11 ESV
[3] Ross Douthat, “How Ben Sasse is Living Now that He’s Dying,” nytimes.com, 9 April 2026. Accessed 18 July 2026
[4] James 1:2-4 ESV
[5] Matthew 11:29-30 ESV
[6] 2 Corinthians 5:21 ESV
[7] 1 John 4:10 NLT