Gentle and Lowly: The Heart of Christ for Sinners and Sufferers

Font is a little small but really good

I need a copy of these two books to read with everyone in the book club. And can’t wait to meet you and read the books together. I am a Christian.

Read the Bible directly instead, this book is VERY MISLEADING. The majority of this book pretends that habitual and willful sin is NOT a problem. Yes, God’s grace is sufficient. Yes, It’s true that God will not abandon us due to our imperfections. Yes, God is incredibly loving and gracious far beyond our comprehension. BUT that doesn’t mean that we are allowed to idolize the desires of our flesh through our the satisfaction of sin. Yes, we are Not Saved Through Works, BUT Our fruit (Galatians 5:13-26) is what overflow from a true relationship with Jesus. (Basically DON’T chase works but chase God and your works will show the Holy Spirit within you). In John 15 it explains that Jesus is the vine and we are the branches in Him we will bare good fruit… if we are actively baring sinful fruit with the belief that our “sin brings us closer to God through His grace” which is what is implied throughout the book but one place it can be found is in chapter 23) that’s blasphemous because it implies that the vine of the Lord bares corrupt fruit through habitual sin. This book seems to have strategically blinded itself from verses like, Matthew 15:8 - “These people honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me” and Matthew 7:21-23 “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord, will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. Many will say to me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name and in your name drive out demons and in your name perform many miracles?  Then I will tell them plainly, ‘I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!” Heart posture is extremely important when pursuing a relationship with Christ. This book seems to have a delusion that our sin increases the relationship with God, because it suggests the idea that our sin emphasizes God’s grace, love, and mercy. Which it does emphasize the gentleness of God, however sin is what separates us from God, sin is what sacrifices our relationship with God, it is what would cause Jesus to say “I never knew you”. Example 1- Chapter 14 quotes: “There is no sin or misery but God has a mercy for it. He has a multitude of mercies of every kind.” Which is partially true but it has a dangerous implication, which is no matter what we do God’s mercy will cover it in forgiveness… Let’s not forget that the Bible said “And everyone who speaks a word against the Son of Man will be forgiven, but anyone who blasphemes against the Holy Spirit will not be forgiven.” Ohhhh there is NOT mercy for “every kind.” Yes God is gracious, yes His grace is sufficient, but that doesn’t mean that we should abuse grace to overemphasize His merciful and good nature. Example 2- Chapter 15 quotes “Mercy is natural to him (God), Punishment is Unnatural” The rest of chapter 15 tries to redeem itself by discussing the balance of God because he also does not tolerate unrepented and habitual sin. But it also forfeit it’s redemption by ending with quote: “He does afflict and grieve the children of men. But not from his heart.” Example 3- Chapter 16 quotes “His (God’s) highest priority and deepest delight and first reaction -his heart— is merciful and gracious. He gently accommodates himself to our terms rather than overwhelming us with his.” God is God, He doesn’t live for us, We Live For Him!!! It feels like the author is implying more than he’s actually stating. Let’s not forget that deception is not all lies, deception is the practice of intertwining lies within an overall truth, which makes it persuasive and deceptive because it’s difficult to differentiate between truth and lies. I feel that this book over emphasizes the mercy of God and subsequently creates this persuasive ideology that our sins are not as deadly and corrupt as they actually are because God is merciful. Yes, God‘s grace is sufficient and God‘s mercy is perfect, but we also should not be comfortable in our sinful-thinking that it increases our relationship with God through his grace which is what this book implies. Final and Most Evident Example: Chapter 23 quotes, “And if the point of heaven is to show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness, then we are safe, because the one thing we fear will keep us out -our sin- can only heighten the spectacle of God's grace and kindness. It means that our fallenness now is not an obstacle to enjoying heaven. It is the key ingredient to enjoying heaven.” My response to the above example are the words of Paul in Roman’s 6:1-2: “What shall we say, then? Shall we go on sinning so that grace may increase? By no means! We are those who have died to sin; how can we live in it any longer?” Overall, No, you should NOT walk around guilty for falling into sin because God is gracious, but we should not limit our understanding of the impact of sin by supporting the abuse of His grace. Read the Bible, Please Don’t Rely On The limited human perceptions and biased opinions of authors. Read God’s Word directly, praying for His holy discernment as you evaluate the scriptures and build your relationship with God through Jesus! +1 Star I like the way the author describes various complexities of the nature of God, it’s beyond our comprehension to fully understand the complex character of God, but the author tried to explain the impossible and I appreciate that!