The most common question I get is, “Lee, how do I grow in the goodness of God?”

This blog post is my foundational answer to that.

Goodness isn’t just something God does—it’s who He is. It’s His very nature.

And unless we understand His nature correctly, we’ll limit the fullness of the goodness He’s always intended for us.

Get it right, and you’ll be amazed at what unfolds.

So, a question: What if everything we’ve believed about God has been built on the wrong starting point?

Too often, we try to understand God by picking and choosing verses, assuming all scriptures equally reveal His nature.

But what if we’ve been missing the main point, trying to piece things together with bits and pieces, when the full revelation is already here?

Jesus isn’t just another clue—He is the full and complete picture of the invisible God (Colossians 1:15).

If we want to know what God is like, we must start and end with Him.

John 1:18 declares, "No one has ever seen God, but the one and only Son, who is himself God and is in closest relationship with the Father, has revealed Him to us."

This means that not Abraham, not Moses, not Job, not the prophets, not our doctrine, and not history can fully reveal the nature of God to us—only Jesus.

Scripture makes it abundantly clear that Jesus is the fullest revelation of God's nature.

Hebrews 1:3 states:

"The Son is the radiance of God's glory and the exact representation of his being."

Notice the weight of this statement. Jesus is not merely a messenger or a reflection—He is the exact representation of God.

He Himself declared, "When you have seen me you have seen the Father" (John 14:9).

These aren't poetic metaphors; they are profound truths that should radically shape our understanding of God.

Matthew 11:27 reinforces this: "No one knows the Father except the Son."

Did you catch that? No one knows the Father except the Son.

Jesus is the only one who can make the Father known to us, because He is the only only who truly knows Him.

Too often, people build their understanding of God based on personal experiences, teachings from pastors, popular clichés, or by picking random verses from the Bible, treating them all as equally authoritative in revealing God’s character.

But consider this analogy:

Imagine you're assembling a massive puzzle, but the image on the box is missing. You try to piece together different fragments, guessing what the final image should be.

Then suddenly, the artist walks in, holding the completed masterpiece.

Would you continue relying on your assumptions and scattered pieces, or would you look at the finished work in the artist’s hands?

Jesus is that finished masterpiece—the clearest, fullest revelation of God. If we continue building our theology from scattered puzzle pieces when the whole image has been revealed, we are missing the point entirely.

When we don’t see God through Jesus, our theology becomes distorted. We end up with a confusing, fear-based faith that misrepresents God to the world.

1. A Confused and Contradictory View of God: Without Jesus as our lens, we pick and choose from scripture, creating an inconsistent image of God—loving in one passage, wrathful in another. But Jesus clears the confusion: “No one has ever seen God, but the Son… has made Him known.” – John 1:18

2. Fear Instead of Love: If we see God as harsh, we will serve Him out of fear instead of love. But Jesus reveals a Father who welcomes us with open arms.

3. A Misrepresentation of God: How we see God is how we show Him to others. If we believe He is angry or distant, we reflect that. But Jesus shows us a God who heals, restores, and redeems.

The world isn’t rejecting Jesus. It’s rejecting the misrepresentation of Him.

4. Twisting Scripture Without Jesus as the Key: People have used the Bible to justify war, oppression, and fear—things Jesus opposed. Scripture must be read through Him.

5. Fitting Jesus Into Our Beliefs Instead of Letting Him Shape Them: Many hesitate to embrace God's radical goodness revealed in Jesus because tradition has shaped their theology more than Christ. But truth isn’t tradition—it’s a person, Jesus.

"You study the Scriptures… but they testify about me." – John 5:39

Analogy: The Locked Room

Imagine you’re in a dim room with books about a king. Some say he’s kind, others say he’s cruel. Then, the king walks in.

Would you still debate the books, or would you look at him?

Jesus is the King who stepped into history to reveal God. If we ignore Him, we’re choosing shadows over light.

Some argue, "But what about the God of the Old Testament? What about divine judgment and wrath?"

This is precisely why we must center our theology on Jesus. He didn’t come to negate the Old Testament but to fulfill and properly interpret it.

Again and again, He reframed scripture with statements like, "You have heard it said... but I tell you..." (Matthew 5). He wasn’t discarding scripture—He was revealing its true heart and meaning.

This has been part of the journey I’ve been on lately—taking Old Testament stories that seem to present God in ways that contradict His nature revealed in Jesus, and asking the Holy Spirit to help me reconcile and understand them.

It's been incredibly eye-opening and liberating. God is better than we think. You can find those specific blogs here.

Others say, "Focusing only on Jesus neglects the fullness of scripture."

On the contrary, a Jesus-centered theology enhances our reading of scripture. It doesn't ignore the rest of the Bible. It provides the right framework for understanding it.

As N.T. Wright explains:

"Jesus is the lens through which we learn to read scripture properly, and scripture is the book through which we learn to see Jesus properly."

Many are hesitant to fully embrace the radical goodness of God revealed in Jesus because they’ve been conditioned to equate tradition with truth.

But truth is not defined by long-standing beliefs. Truth is defined by the Person of Truth—Jesus.

We should never fear seeing God in light of Christ. Jesus is the safest foundation for our theology. And He never created, partnered with, caused, or allowed (permitted) evil—He destroyed it.

We start with Jesus and let Him build our theology—not the other way around, trying to make Jesus fit our theology.

When we truly make Jesus the foundation of our theology, something remarkable happens:

• God’s character becomes clear, consistent, and relational.

• We no longer have to reconcile contradictory depictions of God.

• Our faith deepens as we see God’s goodness without distortion.

• We experience a greater measure of intimacy, goodness, and joy with God that He has always intended for us.

As the apostle John declares, "God is light; in him there is no darkness at all" (1 John 1:5).

Jesus proves this to be true.

C.S. Lewis once said, "I believe in Christianity as I believe that the sun has risen, not only because I see it, but because by it I see everything else."

Jesus is that sun. When He is our foundation, everything else comes into focus.

If Jesus is the exact representation of God, then any theology that portrays God differently from how Jesus revealed Him must be reconsidered.

If Jesus never attributed sickness, disaster, or evil to God's direct action, then our theology shouldn't either.

If Jesus consistently revealed a Father who is good, loving, and redemptive, then any theology that paints God as the author of evil contradicts Christ’s revelation.

If Jesus is the clearest picture of God we have, then He must be the primary lens through which we interpret all other scripture.

If our theology paints God as anything other than how Jesus revealed Him, it’s time to let go of the old lenses and see clearly.

Jesus did not come to modify our view of God—He came to reveal Him exactly as He is.

If we want to know God's true nature and have a theology that truly reflects who God is, we must start and end with Jesus.

He is not just part of the story—He is the story.

When we make Him the foundation, everything else falls into place.

So perhaps the most important theological question isn't "What does this verse mean?" but rather "How does this align with the God revealed in Jesus Christ?"

Because in the end, Jesus didn’t come to gives us better theology.

He came to show us the Father.

Related reading:

• How To Read The Bible With & Through Jesus

• 7 Reasons Why Christians Choose the Bible Over Jesus

• Is God Actually Like Jesus? The OT and God's Nature

1. Does my understanding of God fully align with how Jesus revealed Him, or have I allowed other influences to shape my theology?

2. If Jesus is the exact representation of God, how should that change the way I read difficult passages in the Bible?

3. Am I willing to let go of long-held beliefs if they contradict the God revealed in Jesus?

Bless you,

Lee