Peter Berger says that all people and cultures long to “make sense of the experience of suffering and evil.” No culture or worldview has done this with the thoroughness with which Christianity has done it. According to Christian theology, all suffering has a purpose, for God intended to defeat evil so thoroughly on the cross that all the ravages of evil will one day be undone and we, despite having participated so deeply in it, will be saved. God is not accomplishing this in spite of suffering, agony, and loss, but through these things; It is through the suffering of God that the suffering of humanity will finally be overcome and destroyed. Although it is impossible not to wonder if God could have done all this differently—without allowing all the misery and pain—the cross assures us that, whatever the unfathomable counsels and purposes behind the course of history, they all arise from His love for us and His absolute commitment to our joy and our glory.
“It is through the suffering of God that the suffering of humanity will finally be overcome and destroyed.”
So suffering is at the center of the Christian faith. Not only is it the way Christ became one of us and redeemed us, but it is one of the primary ways we become like Him and experience His redemption. And that means that our suffering, despite the pain it entails, is also full of purpose and usefulness.
