Have you ever heard the statement, “God gives us the desires of our hearts, for better or for worse?”

I recently dove back into C.S. Lewis’ “The Great Divorce.” If you’re not familiar with it, the basic premise is that Lewis describes a picture of Heaven and Hell where people willfully keep finding reasons not to enter into eternal life. They are consumed by one frustration or another, leaving them disenchanted with what Heaven would have to offer.

One such character, who seems to have led a fairly nefarious life, encounters a former associate who is now in Heaven. As the associate (who was a murderer himself) encourages him towards grace so that his former associate may also enter Heaven, the stubborn man keeps protesting that he should be let in on his quality alone. He doesn’t want “bleeding charity,” and declares, “I’m a decent man and if I had my rights I’d have been here long ago and you can tell them I said so.”

One of the beautiful questions that Lewis’ book asks of us today is: where do we trade the freedom and joy of the gift of grace for an unattainable sense of success and accomplishment?

When you think about it, grace is truly wonderful. There is nothing more liberating than grace. There is nothing more satisfying than grace. There is nothing more restorative than grace. Yet, if we’re being honest, the great paradox of our hearts is that we long so much more for success than grace. It’s the great illusion that stands before all of humanity, that there is some form of attainable success that will finally satisfy our hearts. As Lewis makes clear though in his work, all of eternity hinges not on our success, but HIS success and our pursuit of it through grace.

Where in your faith have you been fighting with the need to be successful, and the Lord is inviting you in this season to trade that for grace? If this is resonating with you, perhaps you’ll join me this summer in reading through “The Great Divorce” as a source of encouragement.

May the Lord bless you and keep you this week, and may His grace truly shine upon you,

Pastor Josh

This Sunday our very own Ben Miller will have a production at the Dogwood Dell amphitheater @ 8 pm. We thought it would be exciting to come out and support our music director this Sunday, so we encourage you to come out to 1300 Blanton Ave. for a FREE concert featuring tunes and memories from the 80s.

The 9:30 Sunday School continues the Chip Ingram series entitled BECOMING A ROMANS 12 CHRISTIAN this Sunday.

The Sunday 11:00 class has been postponed until September.

The Afghan family we have sponsored are settled with all the basics: job, apartment, etc. What they need now are some more FRIENDS to help them feel at home in Richmond! Due to illnesses, travels, and family emergencies, the St. Giles/Christ Pres. team is running low on time and energy — and we really need a few more partners to step in and show some Christian hospitality to Naveed & Zahida and their two little boys (with another expected in late July!).

This would not be a long-term commitment — just a commitment to meet the family and do something fun with them: a trip to Maymont or the Children’s Museum, a picnic at a park, a walk along the river, even a quick trip to get an ice-cream cone! Since Naveed is working, it might just be with Zahida and the little boys. Funds for outings may be available (contact Patience about that).

If you think God is prompting you to this ministry of friendship, please email Sarah at sarah@webhills.net. Someone from our current team would love to introduce you to this young family and help you make a plan for an outing or two. The challenges are mainly a) communication, as their English is limited (however, the Google Translation app is a great help!) and b) your car would need to have room for two carseats (which the family have). Other than that, it’s just fun to get to know folks from another culture and love them in the name of Jesus! Might that be God’s call to YOU?

Our first week of MAKE Summer Camp was a huge success! Here are some of our participants and our camp assistants.

We are now livestreaming many of our events, including both Sunday worship services and our concert series on our YouTube channel. These can also be viewed later at the same YouTube channel. Take advantage of the opportunity to catch up on anything you’ve missed, or to share these ministries with friends who might benefit from them.