Gentle and Lowly by Dane C. Ortlund

“I have read no book that more carefully, thoroughly, and tenderly displays Christ’s heart.”
—Paul David Tripp, President, Paul Tripp Ministries; author, New Morning Mercies and My Heart Cries Out

Christians know what Jesus Christ has done—but who is he? What is his deepest heart for his people, weary and faltering on their journey toward heaven? Jesus said he is “gentle and lowly in heart.” This book reflects on these words, opening up a neglected yet central truth about who he is for sinners and sufferers today.

This book was okay. I like the message but it felt like the author kind of drug out what he was trying to say.

This originally appeared at The Irresponsible Reader.
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WHAT'S GENTLE AND LOWLY ABOUT?

We are not focusing centrally on what Christ has done. We are considering who he is. The two matters are bound up together and indeed interdependent. But they are distinct.

...It is one thing to know the doctrines of the incarnation and the atonement and a hundred other vital doctrines. It is another, more searching matter to know his heart for you.

GENTLE AND LOWLY

“Gentle and lowly” does not mean “mushy and frothy.”

But for the penitent, his heart of gentle embrace is never outmatched by our sins and foibles and insecurities and doubts and anxieties and failures. For lowly gentleness is not one way Jesus occasionally acts toward others. Gentleness is who he is. It is his heart. He can't un-gentle himself toward his own any more than you or I can change our eye color. It's who we are.