This Is What God Is Like | Come Close, Part 2
Key Truth | Jesus did not simply come to tell us about God. Through His life, He revealed the heart of the Father to us.
Key Scripture | “I have revealed you to them, and I will continue to do so. Then your love for me will be in them, and I will be in them.” —John 17:26 (NLT)
Have you ever wondered what God is really like? Not what you know about Him intellectually, but what His heart is actually like toward you.
For some of us, our picture of God has quietly been shaped by other experiences. Maybe authority figures were difficult to please. Maybe love sometimes felt conditional. Maybe disappointment, unanswered prayers, or painful seasons left us wondering whether God was distant, frustrated, or simply uninvolved.
Then Jesus came.
One of the most beautiful truths about Jesus is that He did not simply come to represent humanity before God. He also came to reveal God to humanity.
Jesus told the Father, “I have revealed you to them.”
In other words, if you want to know what the heart of God looks like, look at Jesus.
Watch Him stop for the hurting person everyone else passes by.
Watch Him touch the person considered unclean.
Watch Him welcome children when the disciples think they are a distraction.
Watch Him weep beside grieving friends.
Watch Him feed hungry crowds, forgive sinners, restore failures, and patiently teach disciples who repeatedly misunderstand Him.
This is what God is like.
Jesus was not trying to persuade an unwilling Father to care about broken humanity. His coming was the evidence that the Father already did.
John 3:16 begins with God’s love: “For this is how God loved the world: He gave his one and only Son.”
God moved toward us first.
That matters because sometimes we approach God as though we need to convince Him to care. We pray cautiously, wondering whether our problems are important enough or whether we have disappointed Him too many times.
But Jesus reveals a Father whose heart is already turned toward us.
This does not mean God ignores sin or that following Him never involves correction. Jesus spoke truth clearly. But even His correction flowed from love and His desire to bring people into freedom.
The humanity of Jesus gives us a visible picture of an invisible God.
When you are unsure how God feels about the hurting, look at Jesus.
When you wonder how He responds to the broken, look at Jesus.
When shame tells you to stay away, look at Jesus.
He came close so we could know the heart of the Father.
Take a few minutes today to read a story about Jesus from one of the Gospels. Instead of focusing only on what He says, notice how He responds to people. Ask the Holy Spirit to use the life of Jesus to correct any distorted picture you may be carrying of the Father.
Reflection
Prayer | Father, thank You for making Your heart known to us through Jesus. Forgive me for the times I have allowed fear, disappointment, or past experiences to distort the way I see You. Help me look at Jesus and remember that You are compassionate, holy, patient, merciful, and full of love. Teach me to trust Your heart even when I do not understand what You are doing. Amen.
Additional Scripture
Key Scripture | “I have revealed you to them, and I will continue to do so. Then your love for me will be in them, and I will be in them.” —John 17:26 (NLT)
Have you ever wondered what God is really like? Not what you know about Him intellectually, but what His heart is actually like toward you.
For some of us, our picture of God has quietly been shaped by other experiences. Maybe authority figures were difficult to please. Maybe love sometimes felt conditional. Maybe disappointment, unanswered prayers, or painful seasons left us wondering whether God was distant, frustrated, or simply uninvolved.
Then Jesus came.
One of the most beautiful truths about Jesus is that He did not simply come to represent humanity before God. He also came to reveal God to humanity.
Jesus told the Father, “I have revealed you to them.”
In other words, if you want to know what the heart of God looks like, look at Jesus.
Watch Him stop for the hurting person everyone else passes by.
Watch Him touch the person considered unclean.
Watch Him welcome children when the disciples think they are a distraction.
Watch Him weep beside grieving friends.
Watch Him feed hungry crowds, forgive sinners, restore failures, and patiently teach disciples who repeatedly misunderstand Him.
This is what God is like.
Jesus was not trying to persuade an unwilling Father to care about broken humanity. His coming was the evidence that the Father already did.
John 3:16 begins with God’s love: “For this is how God loved the world: He gave his one and only Son.”
God moved toward us first.
That matters because sometimes we approach God as though we need to convince Him to care. We pray cautiously, wondering whether our problems are important enough or whether we have disappointed Him too many times.
But Jesus reveals a Father whose heart is already turned toward us.
This does not mean God ignores sin or that following Him never involves correction. Jesus spoke truth clearly. But even His correction flowed from love and His desire to bring people into freedom.
The humanity of Jesus gives us a visible picture of an invisible God.
When you are unsure how God feels about the hurting, look at Jesus.
When you wonder how He responds to the broken, look at Jesus.
When shame tells you to stay away, look at Jesus.
He came close so we could know the heart of the Father.
Take a few minutes today to read a story about Jesus from one of the Gospels. Instead of focusing only on what He says, notice how He responds to people. Ask the Holy Spirit to use the life of Jesus to correct any distorted picture you may be carrying of the Father.
Reflection
- What experiences have shaped the way I picture God’s heart toward me?
- What does the way Jesus treated people reveal about the Father that I need to remember today?
Prayer | Father, thank You for making Your heart known to us through Jesus. Forgive me for the times I have allowed fear, disappointment, or past experiences to distort the way I see You. Help me look at Jesus and remember that You are compassionate, holy, patient, merciful, and full of love. Teach me to trust Your heart even when I do not understand what You are doing. Amen.
Additional Scripture
- John 1:14–18
- John 14:8–10
- John 3:16–17
- Colossians 1:15
- Hebrews 1:1–3
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