Read Ephesians 2:3–5

I’m told that when suffering a heart attack, it feels as if someone has placed a hundred-pound weight directly on your chest. The panic comes when you can’t get relief.

That same panic occurs when you’re running along in a marathon and you’re suddenly gripped with a leg cramp—you hobble to the sidelines hoping for relief. It happened to me very recently as my eyes strangely stopped making tears—my vision was blurred, and no matter what I tried to do to get relief, the fogginess and discomfort continued. It was an exasperating and somewhat frightening experience.

Those things happen to us spiritually, too. We get spiritual cramps, blurred spiritual vision, and at times, suffer under a mounting pressure to measure up to God’s standard.

So, what gives? A better question is What does God give in such times of spiritual distress? In a word...mercy.

Paul wrote:

All of us used to live that way, following the passionate desires and inclinations of our sinful nature. By our very nature we were subject to God’s anger, just like everyone else. But God is so rich in mercy, and he loved us so much, that even though we were dead because of our sins, he gave us life when he raised Christ from the dead. (Ephesians 2:3–5)

What gives us relief from the pressure and weight of sin? Mercy! What relieves us from the pressure of spiritual performance and perfectionism? Mercy! What can we offer to those close to us struggling under the weight of failure or guilt from their past? You guessed it. Mercy!

If God is so rich in mercy toward us, shouldn’t we be rich in mercy toward others? You’ve heard of random acts of kindness...how about a few unexpected moments of mercy?

Devotional content taken from Good Morning, Lord...Can We Talk? by Charles R. Swindoll. Copyright © 2018. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, a Division of Tyndale House Ministries. All rights reserved.

The full devotional can be purchased at https://www.tyndale.com/p/good-morning-lord-can-we-talk/9781414380681.