Dane Ortlund’s Gentle and Lowly: The Heart of Christ for Sinners and Sufferers is a balm for weary souls. The central message of the book flows from Matthew 11:28 – 30, where Jesus declares:

“Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.”

This passage is the only place, observes Ortlund, where Jesus Himself talks to us about His heart – where He “pulls back the veil and lets us peer way down into the core of who he is” (page 18).

But sometimes we have a hard time believing that. We think that we are too sinful, or God is too high above us, or that our lives are too messy. In this book, Ortlund wants us to see all of those things through a different lens.

Gentle and Lowly spends twenty-three short, readable chapters examining Christ’s heart from every possible angle. Following in the footsteps of Puritan writers like John Bunyan, Thomas Goodwin, John Flavel, and others (whose works he references throughout the book), Ortlund takes this passage in Matthew and wrings as much truth and wisdom out of it as possible. Each chapter turns the diamond so that we can examine a different facet of the central truth: that the heart of Jesus is gentle and lowly.

Ortlund’s approach is refreshing. He does not rely on stories and personal experience to make his points. Instead, he dives deep into Scripture and gleans wisdom from those who have gone before, mining the riches found in Puritan writings and taking time to savor truth. The book is theologically rich, and it proactively addresses questions that might be raised.

For example, he spends a chapter discussing how the idea of Christ’s gentle and lowly heart intersects with teaching on justice and wrath. He turns to passages like Exodus 34 and Isaiah 55 to demonstrate that Christ’s heart is the same as the heart of God the Father, describing a heart of compassion as “the spring-loaded tilt of his affections, his natural bent, the regular flow of who he is and what he does” (page 160).

Ortlund does not shy away from difficult questions. This is not a book free from discussion of God’s judgment for sin or His righteous wrath. However, Ortlund skillfully examines these attributes of God’s character from the perspective of the overarching direction of God’s heart.

For example, in Exodus 34 where God describes His nature to Moses, “God is opening up to us his deepest heart,” observes Ortlund. “In the supreme revelation of God in all the Old Testament, God does not feel a need to balance out communications of mercy with immediate and equal communications of his wrath.” Instead, “Mercy and love loom large.”

Gentle and Lowly is not a call for Christians to make themselves better in order to please God more. It is not primarily about us and our behavior. Instead, it is about Christ and His heart. Ortlund closes the book with a brief epilogue, in which he says:

“This is a book about the heart of Christ and of God. But what are we to do with this? The main answer is, nothing” (page 215).

We are intended to bask in the truth about God, to enjoy it. Not to trivialize it by making it about us. 

But there is one thing for us to do, says Ortlund: Come to Jesus.

“Whatever is crumbling all around you in your life, wherever you feel stuck, this remains, un-deflectable: his heart for you, the real you, is gentle and lowly. So go to him…If you knew his heart, you would.”

We have a limited number of copies of this book available for free in the Resource Center. Please stop by and pick one up!