Christmas Gift Ideas Part 4 of 4: For the Devoted Disciple
Friends! Looking for a gift idea for your family or friend who’s a perpetually-proficient-devoted-disciple (say that fast five times)? The book I’m about to tell you about was recommended to me by two people, unbeknownst to one another, within one week’s time. Coincidence? I don’t think so.
Our youngest son, Woodford, told me about it while my sis-in-love, Marte, was buying it for me for Christmas! I beat her to it, ordering it on Woody’s recommendation. She about passed out when I showed her a picture of the cover of the book. Her church’s Book Club is working thru’ it and her neighborhood Bible study will start it in the new year. She says it’s one of her favorite books ever.
The book? Gentle and Lowly: The Heart of Christ for Sinners and Sufferers by Dane Ortlund.
Dane is the Senior Pastor of Napierville Presbyterian Church in Wheaton, IL, where he was a member for thirteen years before becoming pastor in 2020. He and his wife, Stacey, his college sweetheart, have five children.
Twitter: @daneortland
I also flipped out when I learned about Dane because one of the very first Bible study groups I was in read one of Dane’s Grandmother’s books: Disciplines of the Beautiful Woman by Anne Ortlund. The apple doesn’t fall far from the tree, obviously.
Reading Dane’s book, Gentle and Lowly, is akin to wrapping yourself up in a warm blanket, becoming reacquainted with the true heart of Jesus. More than one of his endorsers called the book a “balm.” Ahhh, so true.
Author Paul David Tripp says,
“As if I was listening to a great symphony, I was moved in different ways in different passages but left each feeling hugely blessed to know that what was being described was
The heart of my Savior,
My Lord,
My Friend, and
My Redeemer.
I can’t think of anyone in the family of God who wouldn’t be greatly helped by spending time seeing the heart of Jesus through the eyes of such a gifted guide as Ortlund.”
We readers are blessed by Dane’s extensive reading and research of the Puritans. We get a lot of rich quotes and treatises from Thomas Goodwin, Paul Bunyan, and many others, akin to cliffs’ notes. (Friends, this is time management at its’ finest.)
Author Rosario Butterfield declares,
The reason behind the title of this post, “...for the Devoted Disciple,” is because of the richness of Dane’s writing, stretching our minds in the most beautiful way, all the while growing our faith. I have friends older than myself who devote their lives to digging deeper in the Bible which I so admire. (I often tell them, “When I grow up, I want to be just like you.” ) They will most assuredly devour this book.
The book centers around Matthew 11:29,
Dane tells us, “This is the one place in the Bible where Christ reveals His heart condition.” If we look at the verses before and after verse 29, we see His invitation to us, as well as His heart’s condition, and the result we will receive should we accept His invitation.
Let’s look at Matthew 11:28-30,
The book contains twenty-three chapters. We’re told in the Intro’ Dane will answer six questions for us re: the heart of Christ:
“Who is He?
Who’s is He really?
What is most natural to Him?
What ignites within Him most immediately as He moves toward sinners and sufferers?
What flows out most freely, most instinctively?
Who is He?”
Dane is very frank with us readers, many times offering thoughts I often consider, but perhaps wouldn’t be brave enough to share. His boldness is one of my favorite aspects of his writing. He’s a gifted teacher, too, pointing out lessons with astute clarity. (Remember Paul David Tripp calls Dane our “gifted guide.”)
One of our son Woody’s favorite parts of the book comes from Chapter Six, I Will Never Cast Out. Dane uses an illustration relating to his two-year-old son holding his hand when entering a swimming pool. (Woody could relate to this as his own son, Ford, is nearly two-years-old.) Dane says his son, Benjamin, “holds on tight as the water gradually gets deeper. But a two-year-old’s grip is not very strong. Before long, it’s not he holding on to me, but me holding on to him. Left to his own strength he will certainly slip out of my hand. But if I have determined that he will not fall out of my grasp, he is secure. He can’t get away from me if he tried.”
“So with Christ. We cling to him...but our grip is that of a two-year-old amid the stormy waves of life. His sure grasp never falters.”
Woody said, “It’s a calming realization our strength will never be enough. This makes me trust the Lord deeper, knowing He sustains His people with an endearing type of love like a father has for his two-year-old who on his own, stands no chance of survival.”
Pictured above are Woody, LT, and Ford (our little penguin). Please keep them in your prayers with Baby George due 3/7/21!
Dane and Woody have experienced the “double-sided truth” (as Dane calls it) of Psalm 63:8,
When I asked Marte what her favorite aspect of the book was, she said, “It has meant so much to all of us and has been a great book to discuss. I keep picturing Jesus’ mercy and compassion overflowing to us like Niagara Falls whereas mine is all dammed up...needing the Holy Spirit to let it out!”
She added, after just finishing the book, “It’s been transformational for me in my understanding of Christ with me, in me, and for me. ..He helps me find contentment and satisfaction in Him, ‘The Lord is my Shepherd, I have everything I need.’”
FYI: Marte said she and Liz, a friend from her book group, suggest we readers read the Epilogue as if it were the Prologue as it would help us grasp the concept of the book better.
My favorite chapter is Twelve on “A Tender Friend.” Dane calls Christ our “never-failing friend.” He tackles the daunting question of “What does it mean that Christ is a friend to sinners?”
Dane points out,
“Here’s the promise of the Gospel and the message of the whole Bible: In Jesus Christ , we are given a friend who will always enjoy rather than refuse our presence.”
Whoa, that’s a tall order. Think about that for a minute, for your every encounter to enjoy one’s presence versus refuse it. I may not refuse encounters with others, but I may not always welcome them!
Thomas Goodwin said,
“Mutual communion is the soul of all true friendship, and a familiar converse with a friend has the greatest sweetness in it.”
One example comes to mind thanks to a friend of mine named Mary. We keep a list going when we’re not together for when we are together (My cousin, Bonnie, taught me this “list lesson” years ago.). Our lists contain points of interest we like to share with each other, many times containing books we’re currently reading, new discoveries, new things our grand angels are performing, etc.
Because of COVID, we’ve not gotten to see each other as much as we’d have liked to. The last time we walked, I only got thru’ half of my list! We can always chat on the phone, but in-person conversations are much more preferable, having the “greatest sweetness” as Goodwin says.
Richard Sibbes said,
“As His friendship is sweet, so it is constant in all conditions...If other friends fail, as friends may fail, yet this Friend will never fail us...How comfortable would our life be if we could draw out the comfort that this title of friend affords! It is a comfortable, a fruitful, an eternal friendship.”
Chapter 13, Why the Spirit? is another excellent one, packed with information on the role of the Holy Spirit. Dane blesses us with eleven examples, straight out of the Bible. Don’t miss it...
In just a few weeks, in the new year of 2021 (can it be?), we’ll revisit more information on the Holy Spirit, thanks to Anne Graham Lotz’ book, Jesus in Me: Experiencing the Holy Spirit as a Constant Companion, which would be an excellent addition to this book, because we all know one cannot have too many books!
I’ve barely scratched the surface of Gentle and Lowly but you can trust me when I say, “Don’t miss the opportunity of reading this book!” So now we can say, “Run, don’t walk, to your nearest bookstore and grab a copy of this book for yourself and for your friends for Christmas!”
I pray you and your families have a most Merry and Blessed Christmas and may we all remember “Jesus is the Reason for the Season.” I look forward to sharing more wonderful books with you in 2021, Lord willing.
‘Til next time!
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