14.You disowned the Holy and Righteous One and asked that a murderer be released to you.

7."To the angel of the church in Philadelphia write: These are the words of him who is holy and true, who holds the key of David. What he opens no one can shut, and what he shuts no one can open.

God calls all people to have a relationship with Him, but He knows that only a few will accept His invitation. Those of us who do can expect Him to use every situation and experience in our life to achieve His ultimate purpose of conforming us to the image of His Son Jesus Christ. Today’s Scripture passage is Paul’s description of God’s plan to transform our inner being so that we act and speak as Christ would.

The past, present, and future are all visible to God. Even before the events of Genesis 1, He knew which people would respond to His salvation gift and appointed these few to be made like His Son. But no one has an excuse for rejecting His offer—everyone has received revelation of Him, if not in written form, then through creation (Romans 1:20). Those saved through faith in Jesus have been forgiven and declared blameless by God.

Salvation begins the great adventure where the Lord works every circumstance, whether positive or negative in itself, to bring spiritual good and grow the believer’s faith. However, even as we mature in our faith and yield ourselves to the Holy Spirit’s work in our life, we still live in these fleshly bodies and will sometimes fail to represent Christ honorably.

To be truly like Jesus, we must stop living according to the flesh. God has already set the time for each of His children to be glorified, becoming like Christ in body, soul, and spirit forever (Psalm 139:16). The day of perfection is still ahead; until then, we continue the adventure of following God’s will and being made like the Savior.