The Mercy King: How the Kindness of Jesus Heals Your Sin, Shame, and Weakness

“In a world that often rewards performance and hides weakness, Jesus does the opposite. He draws near to the brokenhearted,” asserts pastor Sauls (Beautiful People Don’t Just Happen) in this openhearted invitation for believers to accept God’s grace. Jesus’s mercy, Sauls writes, is “stronger than our shame and more patient than our doubts,” a salve for believers’ unmet longings, suffering, and hopes. He explains how readers can seek this mercy in different situations—like remembering that God is with them in periods of suffering, and “resting” in Christ’s unconditional love during periods of anxiety—rather than endlessly striving for earthly accolades and external fulfillment. Sauls brings his message alive with energetic retellings of biblical stories, recounting how Jesus dined with the disgraced tax collector Zacchaeus, and how the prodigal son was unquestioningly embraced by the father he’d spurned, to emphasize that Christ extends his grace to all, including “the outlaws, the overlooked, the unexpected.” Readers will be reassured and reinvigorated. (June)