How sinners grow.
A nugget from Dane Ortlund’s “Deeper.”
After relishing in Dane Ortlund’s previous book, Gentle and Lowly, this latest release was greeted with great anticipation. As its title suggests, Deeper: Real Change for Real Sinners seeks to articulate the gospel’s trajectory of spiritual growth in the life of every sinner saved by grace. Of course, the word “growth” likely conjures up a myriad of reactions and attitudes. Spiritual growth is, perhaps, the tenet of Christian faith that most often gets weaponized, causing an abundance of misunderstanding. Such is why I’m thankful for this work by Ortlund in Deeper.
I’ve barely cracked it open and it’s already an incredible read. Take the following paragraph from Chapter 1 as a small sample to whet your appetite:
One reason our spiritual growth grinds down is that we gradually lose a heart sense of the profound length to which Jesus went to save us. Save us. Where we were running full speed [in] the other direction, he chased us down, subdued our rebellion, and opened our eyes to see our need of him and his all-sufficiency to meet that need. We were not drowning, in need of being thrown a life-preserver; we were stone-dead at the bottom of the ocean. He pulled us up, breathed new life into us, and set us on our feet — and every breath we now draw is owing to his full and utter deliverance of us in all our helplessness and death. (27)
Grace and peace, friends.
Works cited:
Dane Ortlund, Deeper: Real Change for Real Sinners (Wheaton, IL: Crossway, 2021).