According to Paul in 2 Corinthians, what is the value of suffering? Illustrate this value from your own life or from the life of another person.

The value of suffering is to make us depend in Christ and not in ourselves. In our weakness, God’s great power is made evident. Also, we go through suffering so that we may comfort others with the same comfort that we received in our suffering. Having experienced the death of my father and holding on to John 12:24, that a grain of wheat must die in order to produce fruit, I have been able to share with others who have lost their parents and to provide prayer or words of encouragement.

Late in 2003 I experience a health emergency which, historically, would have been fatal. That, which for many would be a source of anger, pain, and castigating God, became a time of growth, peace and sweetness in the Lord. I appreciated that personal physical suffering was an opportunity to grow in wisdom and in faith.

If we suffer, we suffer in Christ.