These are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that believing you may have life in His name. John 20:31
An interesting phenomenon has occurred in our society regarding Christianity in recent years: many people have been turned off by the church, viewing it as oppressive and hypocritical—yet some of these same people are intrigued by, and even interested in, Jesus Christ. They find Christians appalling but Jesus appealing. The church, evidently, has done a poor job of representing the Lord.
If we as believers are going to have a significant and lasting impact on the world in this twenty-first century, we will have to shed a lot of our tradition—what we might call “churchiness”—and get back to Jesus Himself.
Transformed Into His Image
Every Christian ought to resemble Jesus more and more with the passing of time. Paul told us this: “We all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory” (2 Corinthians 3:18). As we behold the Lord, we are transformed into His image. So in the weeks ahead, we will get a fresh look at Jesus and see firsthand what God is like by looking together at the wonderful gospel of John.