we shall see him as he is.

Beloved, little children. 

Is it not the goal of Christian life to be like Christ?

Yes you would agree. And would also agree that we can not have that perfection till we die and His coming.

Yes! You would agree. In fact the verse says that.

we know that when he appears we shall be like him, because we shall see him as he is.

So we shall be like Him, because we shall see Him as He is.

Shall we say then, we shall be like Him in proportion to how much we Him?

Do you remember what we read yesterday?

1 John 4:17

as he is so also are we in this world.

Compare that to this verse

1 John 3:2

Beloved, we are God’s children now, and what we will be has not yet appeared; but we know that when he appears we shall be like him, because we shall see him as he is.

One says we are (right now) and the other verse says we shall be (future tense)

It is the same John writing in the same letter. Which is true?

We know both are. How?

We are as Him, but we shall be (be, do, imitate) like Him in proportion to how much we see Him.

Come back to the first question. Is not the goal of Christian life is to be like Him?

Yes and how do you do that?

By seeing Him. The more you see (know) Him the more you will be like Him.

How can I see Him, I have to wait till His coming?

Grab your Bible turn to John 1. Are you able to read, hear and see the Word.

Wow… ofcourse you see Him. HE is the WORD.

Rejoice…
Here I leave you with the verse to contemplate.

1 Corinthians 13:9-10

9 For we know in part and we prophesy in part, 10 but when the perfect comes, the partial will pass away

1 John 3:2 English Standard Version (ESV)

2 Beloved, we are God’s children now, and what we will be has not yet appeared; but we know that when he appears[a] we shall be like him, because we shall see him as he is.