I watched Disney’s Frozen with the kids the other day. Since Scripture commands fathers to teach their children even when sitting down (Deut. 6:7), there were several worldview points for the taking.

The movie started out well enough. Half way through, after the queen’s magic was discovered, forcing her to flee the castle, in came the song “Let It Go.” Alone and misunderstood, she bellowed her newfound goal:

To test the limits and break through. No right, no wrong, no rules for me.
 I’m free!

Following the ultimate “you go girl” song, I was fully expecting the next scene to show the previously composed queen marching in slow motion, Metallica playing, hair flowing, miniskirt and barbed wire inked to her bicep. “I’ve been held back long enough,” the thought would go. “Time to embrace who I really am”—whatever the gender or lifestyle may be.

Disney could have gone that route. But since common grace is still a guest at some Hollywood events, Disney declined and the movie progressed nicely. No innuendo or bathroom humor. The guy gets the girl, of course. There are a couple of lessons worth pointing out to children.

The first is that women aren’t stronger than men. Just because, say, someone in the girl’s sorority can beat a guy in arm wrestling over at Beta Phi doesn’t overhaul this point any more than Tom Thumb overhauls the point that men are taller than women. Its just the way it is. First Peter 3:7 tells us that husbands should honor their wives as the weaker vessel, the latter phrase meaning that women are physically and emotionally weaker than men, not that men are better than women. A sledgehammer is not more valuable than a teacup, just of better use breaking concrete and of no use at showing hospitality.

Frozen didn’t overdo this like most women superhero flicks these days, but there was still enough to make the eyes roll. The 105-pound princess pulls her hulk boyfriend up a mountain. She lands a haymaker on the bad guy. When the driver tries to protect her from ravenous wolves, she gets angry and ends up saving his life. This only happens in cartoons, kids.

Men should be chivalrous toward women. She’s a vase; he’s a chainsaw. When breaking down a door, don’t ask her to tinker away. Pull out her chair, roll up your sleeves and start the engine. Honor her. Open her door. Give your life for her—every time. Don’t expect her to ask (Jn. 10:18). Jesus gave his life and we’re told to love our bride as he did (Eph. 5:25).

Second, Disney is correct that only an act of true love can thaw a frozen heart. Jesus is the ultimate example. Just as the queen inflicted her kin with an icy heart, so Adam our father (Rom. 5:12) passed down to us a heart that is dead set against God (1 Cor. 2:14). We need new hearts (Ez. 36:26) and Jesus accomplished this by the greatest act of true love—his death on the cross for sinners (Rom. 5:8).