Paul’s life embodied one simple statement, to suffer for Christ is gain. At the hands of a fallen world, and for the sake of Christ, Paul suffered unfathomable losses. Yet, he called this suffering a privilege, marrying the idea that if you are going to follow Jesus, you are going to suffer for Him. We are first introduced to Paul, at the time, Saul, by Luke. He explains that Saul is watching on and approving of the stoning of Stephen. However, through Saul’s transformation to Paul, the Lord takes a persecutor of Christians, blinds him, heals him, redeems him, and then chooses him to take His message to the Gentiles, the kings, and the people of Israel. Through Paul’s journey, he is imprisoned, beaten, shipwrecked, starved, stoned, and eventually martyred. Yet, Paul’s embrace of his temporary suffering achieved eternal value. And, because of that, we can become a people who do not grieve as ones without hope. We can, like Paul, discard all else just to take hold of Christ. We can risk it all for the sake of the cross. And, we can know the joy set before Christ as he endured the cross, scorning its shame.