I must know Jesus Christ as Saviour before His teaching has any meaning for me other than that of an ideal which leads to despair. But when I am born again of the Spirit of God, I know that Jesus Christ did not come to teach only: He came to make me what He teaches I should be. The Redemption means that Jesus Christ can put into any man the disposition that ruled His own life, and all the standards God gives are based on that disposition. Oswald Chambers My Utmost for His Highest

What this means is that we can not be the person God desires you to be until we commit ourselves to being in a relationship with Jesus. It is scary to give that much to a relationship these days, but if we desire to be more Christ-like, then we need to spend time with the person of Jesus.