MERCY: OUR SOURCE OF RELIEF (Part1)

Read: And you were dead in  your trespasses and sins, in which you formerly walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, of the spirit that is now working in the sons of disobedience. Among them we too all formerly lived in the list of our flesh, indulging the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, even as the rest
    But God, being rich in mercy, because (continue reading to verse 7).
Ephesians 2:1-7

The beautiful thing about mercy is that it is demonstrated to the offender as well as to the victim. When the offender realizes his or her wrong, God bring mercy. When the victim needs help to go on, God gives mercy.
Several years ago, my sister Luci asked me a question that I'd never been asked before: "What is your favorite feeling?" Ever thought about that? My answer to her was, ,"I believe my favorite feeling is the feeling of accomplishment." (Sounds like a driven person's answer, doesn't it?) I like the feeling of getting g something done. "Finished" is one of my favorite words.
When I asked her to answer the same question, she said, "My favorite feeling is re!ief."
I thought that was a great answer. In fact, better than mine! When I checked Webster' later, I found that the feeling of relief means "the removal or lightening of something oppressive, painful, or distressing."
When we are in physical pain, re!ief means that the pain subsides.
When we are emotionally distraught, relief calms us, gives us a sense of satisfaction.
When guilt assaults us in transgression and we seek God's forgiveness, the guilt that ate like a cancer inside us goes away as God bring relief.
When a relationship is strained, perhaps with someone we were once close to, we do not not feel relief until we have worked through the painful process of making things right with that person.
When we are burdened by heavy financial debt, getting that paid off brings the sweet release of relief. We learned that the sovereign Most High God is ruler over our lives. So it's obvious that if we ever have the feeling of relief, God has given it to us. He's the author of relief. He is the one who grants us the peace, the satisfaction, the ease. In fact, I think relief is a wonderful synonym for mercy. Mercy is God's active compassion which He demonstrates to the miserable. When we are in a time of deep distress and God activates His compassion to bring about relief, we're experienced mercy.
Mercy, It isn't passive pity. It isn't simply understanding. It isn't mere sorrow. It is a divine action on our behalf through which He brings about a sense of relief. God, our compassionate and caring heavenly Father, is the author of relief. And when it comes to those mysterious, confusing times when doing His will results in the unexpected, there's nothing like mercy to make it bearable.
"But God," the apostle writes, "being rich in mercy." The connecting link between a holy God and a sinful person is God's love, which activstes His grace, which, in turn, sets in motion His mercy. They're like divine dominoes that bump up against one another. He loves us not because of something in ourselves but because of something in Himself. And in His love He demonstrates His grace, which brings forgiveness. And on too of that, grace prompts mercy. . . and there it is relief.
To make it even more personal, look at Paul's own testimony in 1 Timothy 1:12-13 In Ephesians 2 he writes about everyone. In 1 Timonthy1 he writes about himself.