Ephesians 3:13

Wherefore I desire that ye faint not at my tribulations for you, which is your glory.

Paul says something that almost sounds upside down.
Do not lose heart because I am suffering.

Who talks like that?

Most of us would say, Pray that the suffering stops. Pray that the prison door opens. Pray that the pressure eases. Paul says, Do not faint over it. This is working for you.

How could chains ever benefit the church?

Because a prison cell became a pulpit. The dungeon became a classroom. His confinement became a demonstration of Christ in him.

Tribulation is not wasted in the hands of God. It is revelation.

2 Corinthians 1:3–5

Blessed be God, even the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies, and the God of all comfort;
Who comforteth us in all our tribulation, that we may be able to comfort them which are in any trouble, by the comfort wherewith we ourselves are comforted of God.
For as the sufferings of Christ abound in us, so our consolation also aboundeth by Christ.

Notice the pattern. Comfort flows in so it can flow out. Consolation is received so it can be given. The crushing deepens the capacity.

It is like an olive in a press. As long as it remains whole, it looks impressive. But when pressure comes, oil flows. The pressure does not destroy its purpose. It releases it.

Paul understood that. The deeper the suffering, the deeper the well of consolation. And the deeper the well, the more others can drink.

But tribulation does more than comfort saints. It convinces sinners.

The world does not marvel when believers prosper. The world watches when believers bleed.

Remember Gideon. Three hundred men. Trumpets. Clay jars. Torches hidden inside. The victory did not come while the vessels were intact. The light was hidden then. The turning point came when the jars were shattered and the flame burst out into the night.

That is the picture Paul gives elsewhere. We carry treasure in fragile clay. But when is the treasure visible? When the clay cracks.

When a wife is abandoned and yet she continues to worship.
When a diagnosis comes and faith does not collapse.
When the business fails and bitterness does not take root.

That is when people see something they cannot explain.

They are not impressed with comfort. They are stunned by endurance. They are drawn when they see Someone sustaining you from the inside.

Do not faint, Paul says. My tribulation is not defeat. It is display. The chains are not proof that Christ failed me. They are proof that Christ is in me.

The breaking is not the end of usefulness. It is the beginning of visibility.

When the vessel cracks, the light escapes.