2Ti 1:12 For this reason I also suffer these things; nevertheless I am not ashamed, for I know whom I have believed and am persuaded that He is able to keep what I have committed to Him until that Day.
To suffer for wrongdoing is one thing, to suffer for a greater cause is God’s unique call. It takes unusual grace not only to confess but to live it. It begins with, Gal 2:20, “I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; … 21 I do not set aside the grace of God …”
The Apostle understood that his suffering was not in vain. He saw the bigger picture, not with overcoming suffering one day, but that Christ was gloried even in his suffering. He had additional perspective of his suffering, Php 3:10, “that I may know Him and the power of His resurrection, and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death”. In this he was not ashamed of his suffering for he was persuaded of God’s power displayed in preserving him until the end, not only on the mountains but even on a greater level, in the valleys.
I believe God’s greater power is seen not on the mount of transfiguration, but in the garden of Gethsemane, where Christ is seen enduring the pain of knowing that in a few hours, He would be drinking the cup of the wrath of God for the sins of the world. He wrestled in prayer asking if there was another way and every time He yielded to the power of God to make it through. This is the hope we have. Christ suffered and died for our sins. He resurrected for our victory. This is the believer’s certainty: Christ in us the hope of glory. Paul’s message is simple, Christ is not a means to an end, He is the glorious end.