The message of Christianity is so much more than how we can be forgiven for our sins. There are depths to be plumbed. The gospel is not just about what Jesus achieved through his death and resurrection. It is also about his heart towards humble and repentant sinners. And the gospel gives Christians a hope that surpasses forgiveness. We have a hope for change and a hope for a glorious future.
Dane Ortlund has given much of his writing to this: the heart of Christ and the hope he gives us. He writes with a distinctive style, mining the riches of historic Christianity. Ortlund is warm, pastoral, earnest and practical. Here are the titles we’d put in your hands first, beginning with his latest work.
The Short Version
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For a book on the hope of heaven, pick up Dane Ortlund’s newest release, Finally Home.
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To catch a fresh glimpse of the heart of Christ, start with his best-selling Gentle and Lowly.
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If you want the same message as Gentle and Lowly in a shorter, simpler form, grab The Heart of Jesus.
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For a daily walk through the Psalms, get a copy of In the Lord I Take Refuge.
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To see how drawing near to Christ changes your life, read Deeper.
Our Hope is Home
Finally Home: The Christian Hope of Heaven. Hardback, 264 pages, $29.99. New this October.
What we think about where we are heading will shape how we live today. In Finally Home, Dane Ortlund shows us that Christ has won for his people a deeply glorious hope for a new creation. Using Scripture and voices such as Thomas Goodwin, Jonathan Edwards, C. S. Lewis and Richard Baxter, he describes life with Jesus in the new creation, where every tear is wiped away.
This book will cause you to slow down and consider our final home from many different angles, drawing your soul up to glory and away from the fleeting pleasures and pains of this life. As Ortlund says in the first chapter: “This life is fleeting. We are wise to know it, and to feel it… This book reflects on what awaits us just ahead, for the sake of our comfort and strengthening through this brief hotel of a life. Home is coming.” (Finally Home, p 10)
The Heart of Christ is Warm
Gentle and Lowly: The Heart of Christ for Sinners and Sufferers. Hardback, 224 pages, $24.99.
Starting with Jesus’ own words in Matthew 11, where he calls himself “gentle and lowly in heart,” Ortlund presses into how Christ feels about sinners and sufferers. Many of us understand what Christ has done for us but know far less about how he feels toward us. In this book, we find a Jesus whose heart is gentle and lowly, warm and compassionate, inviting and gracious.
Drawing on a well of scripture and historic Christian thinkers, Ortlund leads us into the tender, longing nature of Christ towards sinners and sufferers. There is no better way to grow as a Christian, or to know the heartbeat of Christianity than to look long and hard at Jesus. That’s what Gentle and Lowly is all about.
The Heart of Jesus: How He Really Feels About You. Paperback, 128 pages, $22.99.
In The Heart of Jesus, Dane Ortlund has shortened and simplified Gentle and Lowly for readers who might find the original too long or too dense. The chapters are short and the language is plain, so it reads easily in brief sittings, whether that’s at bedtime or on a lunch break. It suits younger readers, new Christians and friends who are still exploring the faith. If you loved Gentle and Lowly, you could use this book as a refresher to remind you of the glorious heart of Christ without re-reading the larger work. It’s also a good book to hand to someone you want to introduce to Jesus.
Want to go further with Gentle and Lowly? There is a Study Guide ($18.99) and a Gift Edition in imitation leather ($34.99).
Meditate on the Psalms and Find Christ
In the Lord I Take Refuge: 150 Daily Devotions Through the Psalms. Hardback, 408 pages, $39.99.
This is a Christ-exalting devotional that has been wonderfully produced by Crossway. It walks through all 150 Psalms. Each day gives you the full ESV text of the Psalm, followed by a short meditation from Ortlund that takes about five minutes to read and points you to Christ. The book has thick cream paper and a ribbon marker, plus an introduction on reading the Psalms devotionally. Use it each morning or evening, and you’ll finish the year having meditated on the whole book of Psalms with your eyes on Jesus.
It also comes as an imitation leather Gift Edition ($42.99).
How Jesus Changes Us
Deeper: Real Change for Real Sinners (Union Series). Hardback, 192 pages, $29.99.
How does a Christian change? Some believers look for change in better behaviour. Others look for it in sharper doctrine, and others in richer experiences of worship. All three have a place in a healthy Christian life, but real growth goes beneath them. It means bringing what we do, say and even what we feel into line with who we already are in Christ. That is, we grow through the same gospel that saved us. We just need to go deeper.
In his typical style, Ortlund leans on the wisdom of the great voices of the past to help us discover how looking more to Christ will help us change. You’ll meet Augustine, Luther, Calvin, Owen, Bunyan, Edwards, Spurgeon and Lloyd-Jones. Across nine chapters, he encourages us to fix our gaze on Jesus in the battle against sin.
If you want to see how drawing near to Christ will change your life, this is the book for you. You’ll come away ready to keep your eyes on Jesus and rest in his grace.
Other ways in: the shorter How Does God Change Us? ($13.99), the Deeper Study Guide ($19.99), or the Book and Study Guide Set ($47.99).
Still looking?
If you’ve read the others and want more from Dane Ortlund, try Surprised by Jesus: Subversive Grace in the Four Gospels ($22.99). This walk through each of the gospel accounts will open your eyes to Christ in new and wonderful ways.
Browse the full Dane Ortlund collection to see everything we stock.
