Put on your new nature, and be renewed as you learn to know your Creator and become like him.”
‭‭Colossians‬ ‭3:10‬ ‭NLT‬‬

Paul uses the idea of putting on the likeness of Christ as we would our clothes. We must dress ourselves in Christ's holy character. The only way to correctly do this is to know Him personally and grow in our understanding of Him. We must understand who He is, how He acts, and how He "clothes" Himself in order to properly represent His likeness. The better we understand His nature and character the more we can mimic his conduct. We can't act like someone we don't know. Believing in Jesus and knowing Jesus aren't the exact same thing. I believe in many people that I have never met and do not know. One major problem in Christianity is the association factor. Many who attend church espouse themselves as "Christians". The proof, however, lies in the character they display. Many sit in churches and proclaim their Christianity by associating with the "right" group, singing the "right" songs, speaking the "right" lingo, using the right theological terms. However, once they leave the premises they revert back to the culture and bury themselves in the pursuit of selfish ambitions and trivial, temporary, perishable things. Rather than living for the One they sing about at church, they place other things in a higher priority and seem to forget who they say they belong to. How would you like to be married to someone who visits you on Sunday (or perhaps once a month or less), sings songs about you that have no genuineness, claims to love you, only gives you a few dollars of "their" money, flirts with others, and even lies in bed with someone else while they aren't at home? This sounds eerily like many "Christian" people today. We cannot say we know Jesus and love Him when we don't live like we belong to Him. Truly knowing Jesus will transform our way of life. When we truly fall in love with Him we will want no less than to please Him. We will find ourselves spending time with Him, growing in our understanding of Him, and deepening our relationship with Him. As we begin to grasp the holiness, brilliance, beauty, splendor, majesty, and all the other indescribable attributes of our Lord, we will respond with adoration, attention, affection, and application of His likeness.
How well are you acquainted with the One you call Lord?