Here’s a bit of a followup to Kim’s post earlier this week about the “prosperity Gospel.” the Grain and Wine blog has written a 5-part series of posts exploring the issue of faith and suffering:

I am setting out to answer a most important question, namely, why has God seen fit to design the gospel and our salvation in such a way that suffering is an indispensable element of it. I think the Bible teaches clearly that suffering and opposition is an integral part of both the life of Christ and our following Him by being and making disciples. Why so much affliction and opposition to the gospel in the pages of Scripture? Why is the cost of the gospel so high?

The first two posts in the series look at possible reasons for the suffering that Jesus himself experienced; subsequent posts talk about the role of suffering in the advancement of the Gospel.