Heaven on Earth

A book that has made a big impact on me this year is Gentle and Lowly by Dane Ortlund. It’s all about the heart of Christ and how he loves sinners. Leave it to J.I. Packer to be ahead of the curve on this subject. Chapter 12 was all about the love of God and as I read Packer, I heard much of what I had read from Ortlund. 

Packer says, "To know God’s love is indeed heaven on earth." What a statement! How often do I not live like this is true? The answer is most days. Instead, I should be rejoicing in the fact that I am loved by God! I pursue so many useless things when in reality I should be living the God’s love. 

I just went to the beach and I loved being there. It was so nice to feel the sea breeze, play with my daughters in the ocean, and pick up shells with my family. This place I enjoy is just a manifestation of God’s love toward me, but the fact that God has allowed me to know his love is where heaven is found.

Packer later says, "Every single thing that happens to us expresses God’s love to us, and comes to us for the furthering of God’s purpose for us." He goes on to say, "Even when we cannot see the why and the wherefore of God’s dealings, we know that there is love in and behind them, and so we can rejoice always, even when, humanly speaking, things are going wrong." Things have truly felt like they’ve gone wrong for me in many ways this summer. All the while, I have felt God’s goodness—even still—I needed this reminder from Packer.

Giving a definition of God’s love, Packer says, "God’s love is an exercise of his goodness toward individual sinners whereby, having identified himself with their welfare, he has given his Son to be their Savior, and now brings them to know and enjoy him in a covenant relation." Packer unpacks this definition in the chapter and I wish I could here, but there is so much richness to God’s love. It is a love that is purposeful and finishes what it starts. Believers should dive deep into God’s overwhelming love for them.

Packer’s application regarding God’s love is masterful. As a child of God, why am I discontent, fearful, halfhearted, etc.? Could someone watching me observe by my love for others anything at all about the greatness of God’s love to me? These are truly challenging and convicting thoughts. 

I hope this chapter blessed you as much as it did me. I think I could’ve written a book about it!