Minister’s Letter
12th November 2020
Dear Friends,
Proverbs 4 v23 urges us, “Keep the heart with all vigilance, for from it flows the springs of life.”
Our hearts matter because the heart drives all we do.
Without it we would not be.
So, if we were asked to complete this sentence how might we finish it?
Jesus heart is…..
‘Austere and demanding’?
‘Joyful and generous’?
‘Loving and forgiving’?
In one place in the Bible the Son of God pulls back the veil and lets us peer right down into the core of who he is, and Jesus himself gives us the answer.
Jesus’ heart is
“Gentle and Lowly.”
“Come to me, all who labour and are heavy burdened 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”.
In Galatians 5 v23 we learn that one of the fruit of the Spirit is ‘gentleness’.
This is what a man filled with God’s Holy Spirit will be like. Like Jesus they will literally be a ‘Gentle-man’.
How counter cultural is that! How distinctive God’s people will be in a selfish, noisy, fractious world when opening ourselves up to the life of the Spirit and thinking much about God and less about ourselves we increasingly display the Christ like fruit of gentleness.
Most Sincerely, Frank
These thoughts are distilled from Dane Ortlund’s book ‘Gentle and Lowly’ The heart of Christ for sinners and sufferers. (Crossway) A fourteen part devotional is available free at :