Hey Dear Friends,
welcome back to
Book Club!
welcome back to
Book Club!
from chapters 7 - 12 of Dane Ortlund's
Gentle and Lowly: the Heart of Christ
for Sinners and Sufferers
for Sinners and Sufferers
Christ's heart is a steady reality flowing through time. It isn't as if his heart throbbed for his people when he was on earth but has dissipated now that he is in heaven. It's not that his heart was flowing forth in a burst of mercy that took him all the way to the cross but has now cooled down, settling back once more into kindly indifference. His heart is a drawn to his people now as ever it was in his incarnate state. And the present manifestation of his heart for his people is his constant interceding on their behalf.
{78-79}
{78-79}
Let Jesus draw you in through the loveliness of his heart. This is a heart that upbraids the impenitent with all the harshness that is appropriate, yet embraces the penitent with more openness than we are able to feel. It is a heart that walks us into the bright meadow of the felt love of God. It is a heart that drew the despised and forsaken to his feet in self-abandoning hope. It is a heart of perfect balance and proportion, never overreacting, never excusing, never lashing out. It is a heart that throbs with desire for the destitute. It is a heart that floods the suffering with the deep solace of shared solidarity in that suffering. It is a heart that is gentle and lowly.
{99}
{99}
Perhaps we feel that to the degree we emphasize Christ's compassion, we neglect his anger; and to the degree we emphasize his anger, we neglect his compassion. But what we must see is that the two rise and fall together. A compassion-less Christ could never have gotten angry at the injustices all around him, the severity and human barbarity, even that flowing from the religious elite. No, "compassion and indignation rise together in his soul." It is the father who loves his daughter most whose anger rises most fiercely if she is mistreated.
{108-109}
He is with us, as one of us, sharing in our life and experience, and the love and comfort that are mutually enjoyed between friends are likewise enjoyed between Christ and us. In short, he relates to us as a person. Jesus is not the idea of friendship, abstractly; he is an actual friend.
{119-120}
Linda
P.S.
Book Club continues next Sunday as we focus on chapters 13 - 18.
P.S.#2
Christmas is coming, people! And I know no better gift than Gentle & Lowly {and maybe the journal?!}
Kindle - $9.99
Hardcover - $14.79
Christmas is coming, people! And I know no better gift than Gentle & Lowly {and maybe the journal?!}
Kindle - $9.99
Hardcover - $14.79
P.S.#3
As an Amazon Affiliate, I may receive a small financial reimbursement when you use these links to make a purchase. Thank you!
❤
❤
visiting with
