The phrases above list some of the sufferings the apostle Paul was made to endure during the early years of his involvement in the Lord’s service. He is not glorying in his tribulations here; nor does he mention these sufferings when giving his testimony before the Jewish mob in Acts 22 or when speaking before Festus, King Agrippa, and other notables in Acts 26. “I speak as a fool,” he says, as he apologetically mentions these events and more to the Corinthians, while defending the ministry the Lord had entrusted to him against the false brethren attacking him.

Before he was saved, he had persecuted Christians in Jerusalem and even to foreign cities, shutting them up in prison and putting them to death. In Acts 9, at Damascus, the Lord had told Ananias that He would show Paul “how many things he must suffer for My name’s sake.” Soon after his conversion, the Jews had plotted to kill him, watching the gates day and night to do so. When he came to Jerusalem and spoke boldly in the name of the Lord Jesus and disputed against the Hellenists, they too had tried to kill him, so the brethren had sent him out to Tarsus.

As one can see from what he wrote to the Corinthians, his life became characterized by many kinds of suffering. Rather than complaining about the unfairness of his persecutors, he took all from the Lord, confessing himself to be a prisoner of Christ! In his final letter to Timothy, he told him, “All who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus will suffer persecution” (2 Tim. 3:12).

Have you ever suffered persecution? If so, has it been for the Lord? If so, how have you reacted to it? Let us learn from Paul!