Why Are Some Christians Surprised When They Suffer? - Part 5

Here is his fifth reason:

Above all, many of us have not adequately reflected on the cross. We have been used to thinking of the cross as the means of our salvation; we have not thought much about what it means to take up our cross and die daily, or to fill up the suffering of Christ.

For these and other reasons, we Christians may respond to pain and suffering in much the same way our pagan neighbors do. We must take steps to overcome our ignorance of God's Word on these matters, and to drain away the arrogance we display that suggests we should be exempt from such constraints.

- D.A. Carson, How Long O Lord?, p. 27