For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life.
Religiosity will not make you like Christ!
Being like Jesus does not have to do with following an outward set of religious expectations. The verse above is from a conversation Jesus had with a Pharisee. Jesus' message to the Pharisees was constantly that they had missed the boat by focusing on legalistic expectations. Real spiritual life, He said, flows "from within." In this same conversation, Jesus assured the Pharisee that for this new way of life to happen, you must gain a new "within." He said, "You must be born again."
If you want to become like Jesus, stop and ask yourself today, "Have I been born again? Am I changing because of what God is doing in my inner life, or am I just trying to meet up to religious expectations?" If you realize that you need a new inner life from God, you must acknowledge to Him that you have been going your own way in life, not His. Thank Him that Jesus died on the cross for you, so that you could find forgiveness from God. Ask God to give you His life on the inside, to change you from the inside out. Only the God that `so loves' can so change us!
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