Facing Life's Challenges

“Facing Life’s Challenges” is the common thread that binds the next four sessions. These Bible Study sessions explore four significant challenges common to most persons of faith. They are challenges faced by every generation of believers. First, is the challenge of new light. What do we do when we see new light on old truth? Do we close our eyes and pretend not to see, or do we follow new light into the pain and joy of growing and changing? In the second lesson, we face the challenge of time’s limits. We will not live on this planet forever. There is a limit to the time of our lives. Parents are aging. Children are growing. The years are passing. How can we best live each of our days, keeping in mind that any one of our days could be our last? The third challenge is the formidable task of living with mystery. Tragedy, suffering, and pain leave us struggling to understand the incomprehensible and inexplicable mystery of life. Real spiritual maturity means being at home with mystery and choosing silence over inadequate explanations. The last of the four challenges is the endeavor of authentic spirituality. Is there an authentic Christ-centered spirituality for sincere followers of Jesus who don’t feel at home with self-righteous hyperreligion, on the one hand, or cool nonchalance, on the other? These four challenges are a quartet of difficult issues—neither simple nor easy to ponder. Consider them in the light of the Scriptures and in the spirit of Christ our Lord.