I decided my office needed a good purge before we enter 2012, and I uncovered a gem of a little booklet by Paul Tripp, Suffering: Eternity Makes a Difference.
Trials and suffering explode the myth that the goal of life is to get as much as I can. They remind me that the best earthly situations and experiences can pass away, sometimes quite suddenly.
Trials also help me realize who God is and the meaning of the gospel of Christ. Rather than challenging the truths of the love and justice of God, trials and suffering preach them! It is because of them that God will not let me believe the lie that life is found in the things of this world.
God’s love calls me back from hope in the world to hope in him. And in his love he is preparing me for the real thing, eternal glory that far outweighs any pain in this present life.
Paul Tripp, Suffering: Eternity Makes a Difference, p. 23.
The Works of God 
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