Quotes about Challenge

At times there is a crushing before a crowning.

When you are on the edge of your purpose, the ledge upon which you stand might begin to shake.

Persecution is designed to make you run away from the Word (Matthew 13:21).

Weeds choke the life out of anything good that might grow.

It will also challenge attitudes that subjugate women in ways that he himself clearly and consistently redressed.

Knowledge has to be improved, challenged, and increased constantly, or it vanishes.

That's Jesus for you. Making people across time upset with him.

Readers who come to the Bible expecting something more like an accurate textbook, a more-or-less objective recalling of the past—because, surely, God wouldn't have it any other way—are in for an uncomfortable read. But if they take seriously the words in front of them, they will quickly find that the Bible doesn't deliver on that expectation. Not remotely.

When knowing what you believe is the nonnegotiable center of true faith, questions and critical self-examination pose a threat.

judging by how the Bible actually behaves—God did not design scripture to be a hushed afternoon in an oak-paneled library. Instead, God has invited us to participate in a wrestling match, a forum for us to be stretched and to grow.

To see what Paul sees, Christians today are summoned to join Paul: the reality of Jesus demands that the Old Testament be read not by the book, but against the grain.

Paradoxically, the challenges of our day-to-day existence are sustained reminders that our life of faith simply must have its center somewhere other than in our ability to hold it together in our minds.