Perfectly Perfected

But may the God of all grace, who called us to His eternal glory by Christ Jesus, after you have suffered a while, perfect, establish, strengthen, and settle you.
1st Peter 5:10 NKJV

The New Living Translation reads, In his kindness God called you to share in his eternal glory by means of Christ Jesus...

Jentezen Franklin says in his book Love Like You've Never Been Hurt that "to be kind is to be holy." Not the end-all, be-all of holy, but definitely one attribute of it, and we are called to be holy because God is holy (1st Peter 1:15-17).

It's easy to be kind when all is right in our world - people who love you, your health is good, the bills are paid, there's food enough on the table. For many, if even one of these is removed, kindness may go right out the door. 

John MacArthur writes, 

Christians are to live with the understanding that God’s purposes realized in the future require some pain in the present. While the believer is being personally attacked by the enemy, he is being personally perfected by the Lord, as the next phrase attests: perfect, establish, strengthen, and settle. These 4 words all speak of strength and resoluteness. God is working through the Christian’s struggles to produce strength of character.

What we need to remember is that it's after the suffering that the God of all grace will perfect, establish, strengthen, and settle us.

Prayer:

Father, 
           Thank You for Your many kindnesses toward us - innumerable, immeasurable, fathomless. We want to be like You. To love as You love. To be holy as You are holy. Give us the grace to endure so that after the suffering, You will perfect, establish, strengthen, and settle us. In Jesus' Name we pray. Amen