Isaiah 48:4 Because I knew that thou
art obstinate, and thy neck
is an iron sinew, and thy brow brass;
Isaiah 48:10 Behold, I have refined thee, but
not with silver; I have chosen thee in the
furnace of affliction.
Silver being compared in Psalms to Word of God, to His truth. This here is an example of the Bible that God sends also affliction and suffering when people aren't obedient and listening to His Word. He sends terrible afflictions until people fall down on their knees and become malleable to Him. It would have been better for these people to have obeyed, than suffering to be brought against them.
There are of course some saints like St Stephen or the apostles. Who are godly and obey, but some were called to face severe affliction. I would be careful against exalting affliction for its own sake. Because the affliction also is sent to the reprobates, and spiritual discerning must always be applied.
We should all be ready to die for Christ if required.
But the cause of argument here is implication of some, that more suffering = more or better fruit.
By this suffering only = fruit logic, apostle Paul would be esteemed better or more worthy or more fruitful than apostle John and other saints who died natural deaths, because he endured more torture. It is new nature in Christ and their faith growing fruit within them that proclaimed their worth before God, and not the amount of torture and suffering.
@Benadam , I find you a respectable brother in Christ in spite of our denominational differences, and I believe that you would not assert something like that.