10 Notable Quotes from Gentle and Lowly
This article is part of the Notable Quotes series.
Christ’s Heart for You
The gospel flows from God’s deepest heart for his people, a heart of tender love for the sinful and suffering. His longing heart for sinners comforts and sustains us in the ups and downs of our lives. All of the following quotes are excerpted from Gentle and Lowly: The Heart of Christ for Sinners and Sufferers by Dane C. Ortlund.
"The gospel offers us not only legal exoneration—inviolably precious truth!—it also sweeps us into Christ’s very heart.”
“In the one place in the Bible (Matthew 11:28-30) where the Son of God pulls back the veil and lets us peer way down into the core of who he is, we are not told that he is “austere and demanding in heart.” We are not told that he is “exalted and dignified in heart.” We are not even told that he is “joyful and generous in heart.” Letting Jesus set the terms, his surprising claim is that he is “gentle and lowly in heart.” Letting Jesus set the terms, his surprising claim is that he is “gentle and lowly in heart.””
“Go to Jesus. All that means is, open yourself up to him. Let him love you.”
“When the Bible speaks of the heart, whether Old Testament or New, it is not speaking of our emotional life only but of the central animating center of all we do. It is what gets us out of bed in the morning and what we daydream about as we drift off to sleep. It is our motivation headquarters. The heart, in biblical terms, is not part of who we are but the center of who we are. Our heart is what defines and directs us.”
Gentle and Lowly
Dane Ortlund
How does Jesus feel about his people amid all their sins and failures? This book takes readers into the depths of Christ’s very heart—a heart of tender love drawn to sinners and sufferers.
”You might know that Christ died and rose again on your behalf to rinse you clean of all your sin; but do you know his deepest heart for you? Do you live with an awareness not only of his atoning work for your sinfulness but also of his longing heart amid your sinfulness?”
“Jesus Christ is comforted when you draw from the riches of his atoning work, because his own body is getting healed.”
“Lowly gentleness is not one way Jesus occasionally acts toward others. Gentleness is who he is. It is his heart.”
“The deeper into weakness and suffering and testing we go, the deeper Christ’s solidarity with us. As we go down into pain and anguish, we are descending ever deeper into Christ’s very heart, not away from it.”
“We cannot present a reason for Christ to finally close off his heart to his own sheep. No such reason exists. Every human friend has a limit. If we offend enough, if a relationship gets damaged enough, if we betray enough times, we are cast out. The walls go up. With Christ, our sins and weaknesses are the very resumé items that qualify us to approach him.”
“Jesus does not love like us. We love until we are betrayed. Jesus continued to the cross despite betrayal. We love until we are forsaken. Jesus loved through forsakenness. We love up to a limit. Jesus loves to the end.”
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