The Heart of Christ

Just now, I completed my reading of the heart-changing book Gentle and Lowly: The Heart of Christ for Sinners and Sufferers, by pastor Dane Ortlund. I knew immediately that I had to write about it and share it's impact on my walk with Jesus. But as I sit to write, my heart is full and my thoughts are almost empty. How to put into words the magnificence of our Savior's heart towards "his own"?

Just now, I completed my reading of the heart-changing book Gentle and Lowly: The Heart of Christ for Sinners and Sufferers, by pastor Dane Ortlund. I knew immediately that I had to write about it and share it's impact on my walk with Jesus. But as I sit to write, my heart is full and my thoughts are almost empty. How to put into words the magnificence of our Savior's heart towards "his own"?

The book begins with the thought: "Christians know what Jesus Christ has done, but who is he? What is his deepest heart for his people?" If you've been a Christian all/most of your life, do you ever find yourself knowing that you need to spend more time with God, and yet feel a subtle but powerful resistance to doing so? This has sadly characterized most of my Christian life; I have neglected to go to Him even when pressed by His Spirit and have relied upon myself or others to get through the next moments of life. I believe this book gets at the heart of the reason for my resistance: I do not know my Father's heart well. I do not know Jesus' heart well; I project onto them both the qualities of my own heart, and that makes me want to slink away instead of run to them.

Rev. Ortlund quotes many Puritans and "old fashioned" fathers of the Christian faith throughout this book, Thomas Goodwin being one of his favorites:

"That which keeps men off is, that they know not Christ's mind and heart...the truth is, he is more glad of us than we can be of him. The father of the prodigal was the forwarder of the two to that joyful meeting. Have you a mind? He that came from heaven to die for you, will meet you more than halfway, as the prodigal's father is said to do...O therefore come in unto him. If you knew his heart, you would."

"If you knew his heart, you would." Does this convict us? Encourage us? Move us to go to him? Rev. Ortlund says elsewhere that often the sin of our hearts that displeases God more is our belief in Him as a grumpy, disappointed, and emotionally cold Father and Brother. We believe he is like this because we are like this, are we not? Especially when someone has rejected or insulted us.

Before I end, I want to share one piece of the book that was particularly impactful to me and brought me to tears of joy and thankfulness. The Bible describes God as "being rich in mercy" in Ephesians 2:4. Nowhere else is God described as being rich in anything. Dane challenges us that the Christian life is a "life-long shedding of tepid thoughts about the goodness of God." He remarks that God's being is such that mercy overflows readily and naturally towards His people when they sin and when they suffer (even if suffering from their own sin!). This means that as God does forbear with us as sinners, his love is actually greater than we can imagine because His heart "surges forward all the more when the beloved is threatened, even if threatened as a result of its own folly." Do you understand what this means?

When you call your spouse a nasty name, when you yell at your child and threaten to harm her if she doesn't do as you say, when you are overwhelmed with shame over your body type, when you try to manipulate your friend so they don't see some unloveable part of you...etc etc etc...it is in those very moments that God's heart towards you is moved with compassion and kindness. As his love towards us rises, his mercy descends upon us because Jesus is in that very moment advocating on our behalf. He advocates for us based on the merits of his own bloody sacrifice. What wondrous love is this, O my soul? we can sing with the saints!

I highly recommend this book to all Christians, young and old (especially old!). I hope it moves your heart to reawaken towards your Savior and brings you deeper into the heart of God himself, as it did for me.

Rachel