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 unique. It takes unusual grace not only to confess but live in the light of the confession. Paul’s confidence even in suffering was based on truth over feelings. He had personal knowledge of the faithfulness and the reliability of his God regardless of how he felt. Timothy needed this reminder.
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 in these verses in Philippians, “10 that I may know Him and the power of His resurrection, and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death, 11 if, by any means, I may attain to the resurrection from the dead.” (Php 3:10-11). 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. Christ suffered and died for our sins, He resurrected for our victory. This is 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.