Remembering God's Purposes for Suffering

John Piper wrote today on the Desiring God blog about five purposes God has in the suffering of Christians. You can read it here: Preparing for Sudden Suffering.

The five purposes he listed were like these:

1) a call to repentance (Luke 13:5)

2) a call to trust God (2 Corinthians 1:9)

3) as Fatherly discipline in order to share in His holiness (Hebrews 12:6,10-11)

4) to work for us a greater reward in heaven (2 Corinthians 4:17; Matthew 5:11-12)

5) to remind us of why Jesus came to suffer (Philippians 3:10; Mark 10:45)