An excerpt from the book, “Deep in the Shallow, Profound in the Superficial”
Such love, pure as the whitest snow
Such love, weeps for the shame I know
Such love, paying the debt I owe
O Jesus, such love
Such love, stilling my restlessness
Such love, filling my emptiness
Such love, showing me holiness
O Jesus, such love
Such love, springs from eternity
Such love, streaming through history
Such love, fountain of life to me
O Jesus, such love
During the movie’s release, my family and I went to watch the second part of the movie, "Frozen II,” and I noticed something that captured my attention. It was evident to see its connection with our journey in life towards what we call “success,” “belongingness," “peace," and "togetherness" as "the ultimate.”
As part of the whole plot, Elsa is on a quest to follow the voice to save the kingdom from severe snow. On the other hand, Anna, her sister, was brave enough to go with her in the long and rough odyssey. Unfortunately, Elsa did not want her sister to come with her because of the fear of losing her, as the journey was dangerous. Yet, at the end of the movie, she disobeys her and journeys through the thorns and obstacles to help accomplish the mission of saving the kingdom of Arendelle. In the end, the kingdom was saved thanks to these two sisters working hand-in-hand.
What was amazing was the emphasis on two of the greatest values that best further human flourishing: Truth and Love — the truth of the voice that Elsa followed, which revealed to her the truth about her family and the mystery of her powers, and the love and sacrifices of Anna that saved Elsa from the brink of defeat, which eventually brought long-lasting peace and prosperity to the kingdom of Arendelle. It’s such a short summary to get by, but Frozen II is an interesting movie that reflects these fundamentals.
I learned from the movie that there is always a harmonic partnership between the two contrasting terms: "Truth" and “Love." Truth has been what we always seek and want to know. Truth is the greatest search and question of mankind. It is propositional and knowledge-based. But Truth cannot stand on its own without Love. The person cannot be successful with just Truth. Olaf, before he died in the movie and before he got revived again at the end, asked this question to Anna: Do you know what is also permanent? Love.
Love is the supreme ethic, the greatest of all cravings of mankind. That makes perfect sense when it works hand-in-glove with Truth for human beings to really flourish. We have made a huge mistake for thousands of years of our history in separating these two from each other and misdefining them on our own terms. What’s left of them now are watered-down and corrupted parts that have no significant value whatsoever whatsoever, but it is not impossible to bring them together again and to restore the original form of the pair.
So then comes another follow-up question:
What can make these two work together in perfect harmony? How can we put these two distinctions together?
We cannot, but only someone transcendent, supernatural, and personal, in essence can. No one but the person of Jesus Christ, who is God Himself.
God is Truth, God is Love, therefore, Truth is Love. That is exactly and amazingly the uniqueness and center of the Judeo-Christian worldview among all worldviews in the world:
"If you continue in my word, you are truly my disciples and you will know the Truth and the Truth shall set you ‘free,’” from the book of John (8:31-32).
“Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me,” from the book of John (14:6).
"God is love… We love because God loved us first..." from the first letter of John (4:7-21).
For perfect harmony to really happen, it is crucial to get your heart checked and see who you are through a simple prayer. Simply talking to God about yourself will make a big difference. I am sure He will help you search your heart and make you see the hurtful self in you, and, eventually, He will lead you to the wonderful, fruitful, and everlasting way of living. It always starts from the inside of the soul and will impact the whole region, then the whole world. The test of faith and the test of life pushes us to be better, not only be better for our fellow human beings, for our families, for our friends, for our society, or for the whole of civilization, but all for Christ Himself.
It is not only through Jesus where truth and love are in perfect harmony, it is Jesus Christ HIMSELF. He is the only One who can put these two together; He had taught us that Truth is not only propositional but personal, and love is not only relational, but unconditional. Truth and love do not only need a medium but also a foundation, that is Jesus Christ. This is revolutionary! This is fundamental! This is the ultimate Eastern message! This is life! Love and Truth work in perfect harmony in the person of Jesus Christ for the flourishing of mankind — both for the individual and for the community, both for freedom and justice, both for order and peace, both for destiny and sanity, both for obedience and wisdom, both for accountability and morality, both for flourishing and unity.
After two thousand years, since the time when truth and love was first ignited on the cross of Jesus, His love and truth still reflect today, despite the insanities of the 21st century. Amidst the growing warfare of ideologies, policies, attitudes, behaviors, and identities, Jesus reflects truth and love in the sense that there is one thing that we lack that brings ultimate life to human civilization as a whole: Eternity and Relationship with our Heavenly Father.
This is the reason why Jesus said to love Him with all of our heart, mind, soul, and strength and to love our neighbor as we love ourselves because whatever we do in our vertical relationship with God will reflect our horizontal relationship with our fellow human beings, which will affect our obedience and commitment to the will of God. We always want to follow our hearts without prioritizing our relationship with Christ, and so we miss the mark and lose sight of true love and His Word.
Yet, the principle from Jesus — what is in our heart is what we will find — is still right. If we have His love in our hearts, we will see love in other people. If we have beauty in our hearts, we will see beauty in them too. It is what’s in us that is what we are going to find. This will only work when we start with His heart in our relationship with Him.
And so it is in this kind of vertical-horizontal relationship where both mind and heart collide and then the rest will follow. We will love others better when we love Jesus because love is the name of God. Jesus is love.
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So, putting all things together: Who is God? Why Jesus?
Truth and love in the person of Jesus Christ is the perfect harmony of it all, for it is He who only has the ability to create a world that will no longer need a West and an East but a perfect eternal world or home under His perfect love and truth in perfect unity and solidarity.
The following evidences reflect the truth and love of His nature and Godhead:
His Existence Speaks Soundness (all of nature and creation points to and speaks of a designer and a creator who loves His creation); His Accurate Description of the Human Problem (that we are sinners who need a savior, a rescuer, someone to love us, to fill the void in our hearts, and to give us the answers to our questions); Jesus Provides a Cure For Our Problem (by dying on the cross for our sins and nailing all of our iniquities on the cross in exchange for eternal life, reconciliation, fulfillment, and completeness in Him, He gave up everything for us and all we can give back to Him is our choice to love Him, to surrender our heart to Him, to grow deeper and closer to Him, to have faith in Him in the highs and lows); His Meaning in Suffering (He is willing to suffer with you, your pain is His pain, your suffering is His suffering, He understands what you are going through, never give up on Him, for He will never give up on you, He knows your DNA and He loves you, He will never leave you nor forsake you. Suffering gives true purpose and life, it helps us lose our confidence in our flesh and in the world and shift 1000% of our confidence to God alone); History is His Story; and His 2000-year old Legacy and Beyond, all proving that things held in common point to Judeo-Christianity, and the Biblical Triune God — The Father, Jesus Christ, and the Holy Spirit — THE GREAT I-AM, is The Absolute Truth, beyond reasonable doubt, and, with the quantity and quality of evidence, above all worldviews around the world. And He is also our special BFF: Brother, Father, and Friend. He is family altogether.
Perhaps the main question we must reflect on ourselves in this chapter is:
Besides your mind, how is your heart today?
Once we solve this problem, then we, together with other saved souls, are ready to enter the kingdom where no slave before the oppressor bends, where no faith can kill, but where Jesus reigns forever.
Imagine, what would history, human civilization, and societies be when truth and love had remained constantly together in the face of God? Who knows? It might have been totally different.
Friends, in order to light the darkness in these last days, in order to bring life to both east and west, from the Word of Jesus, speak Truth and live by Truth in Love!
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"Deep in the Shallow, Profound in the Superficial" is one of three books of the Light Trio ("Light Out of Darkness: Reflections For The Last Century," "Deep in the Shallow, Profound in the Superficial," & "Life Letters". It is volume two of the whole set.
Behind the physical, there is always a spiritual that operates the physical. Behind all these operations, the Triune God (Father Yahweh, Son Jesus Christ or Yeshua Hamashiach, and Holy Spirit or Ruach Ha-Kodesh) is the greatest original, the first and last, and the real truth and love for all of mankind. Satan, the devil, seeks to destroy the created order and bring people to Hell and later into the lake of fire. He seeks to steal, kill, and destroy. He seeks to blind you and fool you towards deception and emptiness through false realities, false promises, false stories, false scenarios, counterfeits, trickeries, lies, and complete manipulation.
It is your light journey to seek the lies that are keeping you hostage and seek the truth and love of all things, Jesus Christ, for only He can save you towards eternity, peace, justice, and rest for your soul, keeping your eyes on Jesus alone, not on man. And you can start by grabbing your bible and reading it starting from the book of John onwards to the end of the New Testament, and back to the Old Testament. Meditate on it, study it, and grow deeper and deeper into the Holy Spirit, and discover more and more the heart and mind of Jesus.
It is time to see the heart of the Father, to hear the voice of the Holy Spirit, and to feel the touch of Jesus, all can be achieved with the help of God, His Word, and our commitment to surrender every day.
Grow deeper into Jesus Christ, into His truth and love, into His Word, and into His Spirit. Let the savior of the world feed your curiosities, cravings, emptiness, hunger, and the vacuum of your heart, and fix the dryness of your soul with answers to your life's deepest questions and yearnings.
By the Grace of Jesus,
Karl Abad