We need to understand that we are going to go through trials and tribulations. They will come. But we have been given the power to endure them. In II Corinthians 4:7-12, Paul writes:
Paul was not crushed, he was not in despair, he was not forsaken, and he was not destroyed. He had the power to endure, and so do we. In verse 10, he says that the dying of the Lord Jesus is always carried in his body. This means that the sufferings and persecutions he endured were a reflection of the sufferings of Christ. The purpose was so that the life of Jesus—His resurrection power—would also be manifested in Paul's mortal body. The very trials that threatened to destroy him became the means by which the life and power of Christ were displayed.
In verse 11, Paul explains that those who live for Christ are continually delivered over to death-like experiences for Jesus' sake. This is not accidental or purposeless suffering. It has a divine aim: that the life of Jesus may be revealed through mortal flesh. The paradox is striking—death works in the apostle, but life flows to those he serves (verse 12). His suffering becomes the channel through which spiritual life reaches others. This is the principle of the treasure in earthen vessels: God's power is most clearly seen when the vessel is weak, broken, and pressed beyond its own capacity.
