People often assume wrongly that suffering is a sign of punishment. In fact the God of the Bible displays His power through weakness, His glory through suffering. This is what we see preeminently in the cross of Christ, and it is a pattern that we see refracted in the ministry of Paul. As Christ was willing to suffer to bring us to glory, so Paul was glad to suffer imprisonment and martyrdom on behalf of the gentiles to see them brought to glory by faith in Christ. The gospel gives us both the proper perspective to understand own adversity and the worthy aim to persevere through it, to see others glorified in Christ.