I grew up in a church culture. My parents took me to church but we weren’t a radical family by any standards. The extent of our Christian experience was on developing biblical values and morals. Like many people, even though I went to church and ‘Sunday School’ somewhere along the line I learned to believe that Jesus and God were two different people with two different roles. God, was the bearded old man with a cranky demeanour, impatiently putting up with people and flinging lightning bolts to zap anyone who stepped out of line. But Jesus was the nice guy who seemed to care about people.

I can’t remember ever being told anything like the above, but somehow, in child-like perceptions I developed that understanding between Jesus and God.

Possibly the most important step in my understanding of the relationship between Jesus and God I discovered in Hebrews 1:3 which says, “…Jesus is the exact representation of God.” Another   translation replaces the word exact with perfect. Jesus is the perfect representation of God.

…exact….perfect… these words indicate a precise completeness; a sameness; more than a mirror image or a carbon copy – but actually the same in essence and personhood.

Understood in this way, this means that when I look at the person of Jesus I’m actually seeing an exact representation of the person of God. Jesus’ life gives me an insight and perspective on the very character and nature of God. So, the recurring image I have in my head of God as a Zeus-like old man with a lightning rod ready to zap people for doing something wrong – where did that come from? I certainly don’t see that represented in the life of Jesus. In fact, I see the opposite.

Jesus had time for people – all people, and he seemed to be genuinely liked by the crowds. The non-religious wanted to hang out with him. In fact, he was accused of spending too much time with those deemed less-than-suitable but Jesus ignored those religious rules & traditions. He demonstrated compassion and he healed the sick and oppressed. He lived a humble life modelling what he taught and invited people to follow him in his Kingdom lifestyle.

The representation of God exemplified in the life of Jesus is not the characterisation of God I grew up with. When it becomes clear that my thoughts about God are different to what the Bible reveals, I have a choice to make: do I continue on with this incorrect assumption about the nature and character of God or do I study what the Scriptures teach about God in order to change my understanding of who God is?

God really is good.  The misconceptions our society has about God have come from so many ways in which he has been misrepresented through the ages.  Many people in positions of authority have taught directly, or indirectly through the example of their lifestyle, that God is something other than good, loving, generous, gracious or kind.  As a result, most people, even in the Church, have a level of discomfort or confusion about the idea that God is good.

If we say, “God is love”,  most people would accept this and agree to it without much thought. Why is this so?  Because we have been taught the theological principle that God is love.  A somewhat unsettling thought is that we could actually be stating our agreement merely because we have grown up hearing this theological principle so often we’ve accepted it as fact without actually growing to believe it.

Love and goodness are connected.  If someone loves you, they will be good to you.  They will look after your well-being, they will be concerned for your safety, they will want good things for you.  So, in this discussion about God’s goodness, how is it that we can have a distinction between his love (which most people generally accept) and his goodness?  If God is Love then he also is Good.

Could it be that we have not experienced God for who he really is?  Is it possible that we have based our understanding of God on what other people have told us or demonstrated to us, rather than on our own search into his character and nature?  Perhaps it’s time to look into it for ourselves.