On the Kindness of God
One of the most fascinating trends of the last few years is the meteoric reception of Dane Ortlund’s book Gentle and Lowly.
It was published in April 2020, by December of that year it had sold 100K copies, then a year in, April 2021, it had crossed 250,000. Now, 4 years later, it’s well over half a million copies sold.
And there are now gift editions, journals, study guides, and a forthcoming abridgment.
On Amazon, in early 2021, out of every book they sell. Not Christian books, not religious books, but books in general, it was #134.
Which means Amazon alone was probably shipping about 500 copies a day (though who knows the exact number). The books that were beating it are, you know, things like The Very Hungry Caterpillar, 1984, Dune, What to Expect when You’re Expecting, To Kill a Mocking Bird, Obama’s Memoir, and Joanna Gaines’ cookbook. Those are some pretty heavy hitters.
And I love the book. Highly recommend it.
It was paradigm-shifting for me.
Changed my life.
All of those things
But I didn’t find it exceptionally pleasurable to read. This is probably just a matter of style and opinion, but I didn’t find it to be a page-turner by any means. Ortlund’s writing style and my reading style don’t sync up - nothing wrong with either of them. I have no criticisms of it, in my opinion, it’s just a little higher-brow than I tend to enjoy.
And so, I wonder, how did it reach its viral influence level? The “instant classic” standard. With people saying, “Hold on to your first editions. They’ll be worth something someday.”
And my only explanation is that for a long time, Satan’s convinced us that the kindness of God is a “liberal” doctrine. That conservative Christians – theological fundamentalists – are people of truth and justice and righteousness. And if you can accidently be kind along the way, that’s fine, but kindness isn’t at the core of who God is. To preach God’s kindness is to undercut His holiness (a claim that actually undercuts His simplicity).
And then Dane Ortlund comes along and basically plunders the Puritans and other conservative heroes like John Edwards and John Owen to say, “Hey, the kindness of God is supremely biblical. You can believe it and still be conservative.”
And a generation – my generation – was floored by this declaration. We’d only been fed a Just, demanding God who contractually loved us because of Jesus. But one that didn’t necessarily like us. And this God – the God of the Bible, the God of the Gospel – He is so much better, so much more glorious, so much more beautiful.
Not a harsh taskmaster, but a loving Father. I think Satan is still actively lying about God’s kindness, and God used that book to open our eyes to the truth. And so I am thankful for it and for Dane Ortlund. It seems that the conservative church is beginning to rediscover the kindness of God.
We’ll see how this post ages, but I think for today, especially for my generation and younger, we need to take Romans 2:4 seriously. The thing that will win people to repentance is an emphasis on the doctrine of the Kindness of God.
Or do you presume on the riches of his kindness and forbearance and patience, not knowing that God’s kindness is meant to lead you to repentance? (Romans 2:4)
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