Think you know Jesus? Chances are, you don't. And neither do I. Not yet, not fully.

A dangerous thing that we've come to believe is, once we've accepted Jesus, we've won the race. We're done. Mission accomplished. High five.

This is a lie. 

There is nothing the enemy wants more than for Christians to buy this untruth.

When we accept Christ, we are at the beginning of a life long journey where we will (note the future tense) grow to know Him, we will grow in our appreciation of Him and the significance of what He's done, and we will grow in our resemblance of Him.

A life where we've made Christ our Lord as well as our Savior includes:

• Constantly learning through striving to know Him more and more. This comes through consistent devotion, prayer and bible reading. This comes through church attendance and church involvement (emphasis on the latter). And this comes from obedience - stepping out into uncomfortable territory and being His hands and feet, loving our neighbors (even our enemies).

• Standing up for His Truth when (especially when) it's highly unpopular. We will be mocked, ridiculed, and called hateful bigots, depending on the topic as the world continues it's drift on the open sea of random thought and opinion. Be ready, and stand firm and confident that it is not God (and you that has changed). It is the world.

• Exchanging our desires, temptations, and sin for a continually improving life of righteousness. Know that sanctification (the slow path to holiness) takes a lifetime. We must replace a desire to look at porn with reading the Bible. We must replace a desire to gossip, with positive statements about people or biting our tongues and even removing these negative thoughts from our minds. Feeling temptation for one of your proclivities? Ask God for His power to help you. He will. And soon, He will remove it from your life, given enough time and consistency.

To know Jesus is to be like him. To be Christlike. None of us are there.

We all have a long way to go, but here's the good news: we're on the path. And while our daily and weekly steps may be tiny, over time we will look back and see how far we've come in resembling Christ. 

And your life will be more purposeful. 

And He will be pleased.

And that's what matters.