“I am gentle and lowly in heart.” Matthew 11:29 (ESV)
We know Jesus wants us to come to him and allow him to give us rest (Mt. 11:28), but do we readily do so? Do we feel like he really wants us to come to him?
We know Jesus wants us to come to him and allow him to give us rest (Mt. 11:28), but do we readily do so? Do we feel like he really wants us to come to him?
In the Introduction to “Gentle and Lowly,” Dane Ortlund says, “This is a book about the heart of Christ. Who is he? Who is he really? What is most natural to him?
This book is written for the discouraged, the frustrated, the weary, the disenchanted, the cynical, the empty. Those running on fumes. It is written for sinners and sufferers. How does Jesus feel about them?
Do you live with an awareness not only of his atoning work for your sinfulness but also of his longing heart amid your sinfulness?”
Here are some excerpts from this helpful resource:
Jesus Christ’s desire that you find rest, that you come in out of the storm, outstrips even your own. “Gentle and lowly.” This, according to his own testimony, is Christ’s very heart. This is who he is. Tender. Open. Welcoming. Accommodating. Understanding. Willing.
This is not who he is to everyone, indiscriminately. This is who he is for those who come to him, who take his yoke upon them, who cry to him for help.
His yoke is kind and his burden is light.
Thomas Goodwin said, “Christ is love covered over in flesh.”
Our pain never outstrips what he himself shares in. We are never alone.
What elicits tenderness from Jesus is not the severity of the sin but whether the sinner comes to him.
…his deepest impulse and delight is patient gentleness.
…we don’t feel the weight of our sin because of our sin.
If you are part of Christ’s own body, your sins evoke his deepest heart, his compassion and pity…He sides with you against your sin, not against you because of your sin. He hates sin. But he loves you.
One of the more neglected doctrines in the church today is the heavenly intercession of Christ.
Justification is tied to what Christ did in the past. Intercession is what he is doing in the present…intercession applies what the atonement accomplished. The atonement accomplished our salvation; intercession is the moment-by-moment application of that atoning work.
The intercession of Christ is his heart connecting our heart to the Father’s heart.
Christ continues to intercede on our behalf in heaven because we continue to fail here on earth.
Jesus is not only an intercessor but an advocate.
We are drawn to God by the beauty of the heart of Jesus.
What does a godly emotional life look like? It is an inner life of perfect balance, proportion, and control, on the one hand; but also of extensive depth of feeling, on the other hand.
In Jesus Christ, we are given a friend who will always enjoy rather than refuse our presence.
But Christ’s heart for us means that he will be our never-failing friend no matter what friends we do or do not enjoy on earth. He offers us a friendship that gets underneath the pain of our loneliness.
The Spirit is the continuation of the heart of Christ for his people after the departure of Jesus to heaven.
When we see the heart of Christ, then, throughout the four Gospels, we are seeing the very compassion and tenderness of who God himself most deeply is.
The only two words Jesus will use to describe his own heart are gentle and lowly (Mt. 11:29). And the first two words God uses to describe who he is are merciful and gracious (Ex. 34:6-7).
The message of this book is that we tend to project our natural expectations about who God is onto him instead of fighting to let the Bible surprise us into what God himself says (Is. 55:8).
We can be immoral dead people, or we can be moral dead people. Either way, we’re dead. The mercy of God reaches down and rinses clean not only obviously bad people but fraudulently good people, both of whom equally stand in need of resurrection.
Live your life knowing your sonship is settled and irreversible.
Galatians teaches us that we are made right with God based on what Christ has done rather than on what we do. To help the gospel, therefore, is to lose the gospel.
The central message of Galatians is that the freeness of God’s grace and love is not only the gateway but also the pathway of the Christian life.
The point of unending eternal life in the new heavens and the new earth is that God “might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus” (Eph. 2:7)
The more darkness and pain we experience in this life, the more resplendence and relief in the next.
Paul Tripp says, “I have read no book that more carefully and tenderly displays Christ’s heart.” I agree.
To the praise of His glory,
Ray
Pr. 3:5-6
Quotable Quote: God is not poor in mercy. He is rich in mercy. Nowhere else in the Bible is God described as rich in anything. The only thing he is called rich in is: mercy. What does this mean? It means that God is something other than what we naturally believe him to be. It means the Christian life is a lifelong shedding of tepid thoughts of the goodness of God. In his justice, God is exacting; in his mercy, God is overflowing.
Gentle and Lowly
This book is written for the discouraged, the frustrated, the weary, the disenchanted, the cynical, the empty. Those running on fumes. It is written for sinners and sufferers. How does Jesus feel about them?
Do you live with an awareness not only of his atoning work for your sinfulness but also of his longing heart amid your sinfulness?”
Here are some excerpts from this helpful resource:
Jesus Christ’s desire that you find rest, that you come in out of the storm, outstrips even your own. “Gentle and lowly.” This, according to his own testimony, is Christ’s very heart. This is who he is. Tender. Open. Welcoming. Accommodating. Understanding. Willing.
This is not who he is to everyone, indiscriminately. This is who he is for those who come to him, who take his yoke upon them, who cry to him for help.
His yoke is kind and his burden is light.
Thomas Goodwin said, “Christ is love covered over in flesh.”
Our pain never outstrips what he himself shares in. We are never alone.
What elicits tenderness from Jesus is not the severity of the sin but whether the sinner comes to him.
…his deepest impulse and delight is patient gentleness.
…we don’t feel the weight of our sin because of our sin.
If you are part of Christ’s own body, your sins evoke his deepest heart, his compassion and pity…He sides with you against your sin, not against you because of your sin. He hates sin. But he loves you.
One of the more neglected doctrines in the church today is the heavenly intercession of Christ.
Justification is tied to what Christ did in the past. Intercession is what he is doing in the present…intercession applies what the atonement accomplished. The atonement accomplished our salvation; intercession is the moment-by-moment application of that atoning work.
The intercession of Christ is his heart connecting our heart to the Father’s heart.
Christ continues to intercede on our behalf in heaven because we continue to fail here on earth.
Jesus is not only an intercessor but an advocate.
We are drawn to God by the beauty of the heart of Jesus.
What does a godly emotional life look like? It is an inner life of perfect balance, proportion, and control, on the one hand; but also of extensive depth of feeling, on the other hand.
In Jesus Christ, we are given a friend who will always enjoy rather than refuse our presence.
But Christ’s heart for us means that he will be our never-failing friend no matter what friends we do or do not enjoy on earth. He offers us a friendship that gets underneath the pain of our loneliness.
The Spirit is the continuation of the heart of Christ for his people after the departure of Jesus to heaven.
When we see the heart of Christ, then, throughout the four Gospels, we are seeing the very compassion and tenderness of who God himself most deeply is.
The only two words Jesus will use to describe his own heart are gentle and lowly (Mt. 11:29). And the first two words God uses to describe who he is are merciful and gracious (Ex. 34:6-7).
The message of this book is that we tend to project our natural expectations about who God is onto him instead of fighting to let the Bible surprise us into what God himself says (Is. 55:8).
We can be immoral dead people, or we can be moral dead people. Either way, we’re dead. The mercy of God reaches down and rinses clean not only obviously bad people but fraudulently good people, both of whom equally stand in need of resurrection.
Live your life knowing your sonship is settled and irreversible.
Galatians teaches us that we are made right with God based on what Christ has done rather than on what we do. To help the gospel, therefore, is to lose the gospel.
The central message of Galatians is that the freeness of God’s grace and love is not only the gateway but also the pathway of the Christian life.
The point of unending eternal life in the new heavens and the new earth is that God “might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus” (Eph. 2:7)
The more darkness and pain we experience in this life, the more resplendence and relief in the next.
Paul Tripp says, “I have read no book that more carefully and tenderly displays Christ’s heart.” I agree.
To the praise of His glory,
Ray
Pr. 3:5-6
Quotable Quote: God is not poor in mercy. He is rich in mercy. Nowhere else in the Bible is God described as rich in anything. The only thing he is called rich in is: mercy. What does this mean? It means that God is something other than what we naturally believe him to be. It means the Christian life is a lifelong shedding of tepid thoughts of the goodness of God. In his justice, God is exacting; in his mercy, God is overflowing.
Gentle and Lowly
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