Many people come to faith because they think Christianity is going to fix their pain,

fix their life, and fix it fast. But what if God's goal for his children is not that we enjoy

an easier life, but that we share in him a deeper joy. Today, Pastor John walks through the book of 2nd Corinthians to show how suffering isn't wasted.

It's transformed in Christ.

Today, on Ask Pastor John, suffering for joy.

Suffering for joy.

Pastor John is May begins. So begins another read through Second Corinthians in our

Bible reading this month, the first half of this month. How would you challenge someone who believes

Christianity is mostly about emotional healing and feeling good again? They don't want to suffer

in this life. They want relief and they want a rid life of all discomforts.

And for that, for that fix, many would believe in Christ.

So how does this book we are diving into now, 2 Corinthians, point us to a God who doesn't

just fix pain, but who intends to use our most challenging experiences in life in order to deepen

our joy.

Second Corinthians really is a sobering and thrilling gateway into the Christian life.

I think it's fair to say that no other book in the New Testament

is more stark or painfully realistic about the sufferings

that Christians experience in this life,

while at the same time, this book more often than any other New Testament book insists on

overflowing joy in the Christian life in spite of, even because of that suffering.

That's what makes it so peculiar and sobering and thrilling as a gateway

into the Christian life. One way to come at this book is to ask if there is so much suffering

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