Facing Life's Challenges

Facing Life’s Challenges explores four significant challenges common to most persons of faith. They are challenges faced by every generation of believers. They are neither simple nor easy to ponder.

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?

Second, 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?

Third 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.

Fourth 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 often self-righteous hyperreligion, on the one hand, or cool nonchalance, on the other?

A part of the NextSunday Resources line of adult Bible studies, Facing Life’s Challenges contains four lessons for use as individual study or group discussion. Each study contains lessons on the biblical material, combined with an additional commentary from an alternate, but complementary, viewpoint.

Charles E. Poole lives in Jackson, Mississippi. A nationally-recognized speaker, he has served churches in Mississippi, Georgia, North Carolina, and Washington D.C. He is the author of several books, including Between the Gates: Helpful Words from Where Scripture Meets Life and Beyond the Broken Lights: Simple Words at Sacred Edges.