Is God as Good as Jesus?
When we wonder what God is like, we simply follow the light of Christ—clear, radiant, and trustworthy.
Based on “In Christ” by E. Stanley Jones
Photo Credit: Unsplash
In today’s reflection, E. Stanley Jones takes us into the heart of Christ’s relationship with the Father—not through theological abstraction, but through something every one of us can relate to: outcomes. Jesus doesn’t argue for His divinity merely by asserting it. Instead, He invites us to look at the fruit—the visible, tangible expressions of His life: His works, His love, His mercy, His power over sin and death.
He says, in essence, “If you want to know who God is, just look at Me.” The litmus test He offers is His life—do His actions reflect the kind of God we long for, the kind of God who is good, trustworthy, gracious? And the answer is yes, gloriously yes. Jesus lived out the Father's heart, not just declaring God's character, but embodying it.
But Jones doesn’t stop there—he flips the question we so often ask: instead of wondering, “Is Jesus as good as God?” we’re faced with something even more vulnerable: “Is God as good as Jesus?” Because in Jesus, we see gentleness, healing, compassion, truth, and a love that doesn’t flinch at suffering. Can we trust that the Father is just as good?
Jones points to the answer we see tested and proven through centuries of scrutiny—the character of Christ is the character of God. There is no higher adjective for man or God than “Christlike.” And when we see God through Jesus, we see a God who is infinitely trustworthy, because He is infinitely Christlike.
Personalized Journal Entry — In the Voice of the Holy Spirit
I have revealed the Father to you in the Son. Every touch of His hand upon the broken, every word spoken to the weary, every step He took toward the outcast was a window into My heart. He did not act on His own. The works you saw were My works, flowing through Him as a river flows through its banks. The words He spoke were My words, and they brought life because they came from the Source of Life.
Do you wonder whether I am trustworthy? Look at Jesus. His mercy was not His alone—it was Mine. His tears over Jerusalem were My grief. His embrace of sinners was My invitation. When He forgave the guilty and fed the hungry, it was not a departure from My will—it was the unveiling of it.
The fruit of His life revealed the root of My love. You need not guess what kind of God I am. I am just as good as Jesus. I am the Father who runs to the prodigal, the Shepherd who searches for the lost, the Gardener who patiently tends until fruit appears. I have not hidden Myself in mystery—I have come close, clothed in flesh, speaking in a voice you can understand.
Now, My life is in you. Christ in you is the hope of glory, and the works you do in His name are not yours but Mine through you. The fruit of your life will bear witness, just as His did, not by effort but by abiding. Love will beget love. Peace will arise where turmoil once ruled. Compassion will take the place of coldness. Not by might, not by power, but by My Spirit working in you as surely as I worked in Him.
Let your life be the answer to others’ doubts. When they wonder if I am good, let them see Jesus in you.
(John 14:10–11, Matthew 7:20, Luke 15:20, Isaiah 40:11, Zechariah 4:6, Colossians 1:27)
Prayer
Father, thank You that I don’t need to look into the clouds or search through confusion to know what You are like. I simply look at Jesus. In Him, I see You—and I see that You are beautiful, trustworthy, and overflowing with mercy. I rest in the certainty that You are not a different kind of God, but exactly as good as Jesus.
And as I go about today, I trust You to manifest the same life in me. Not by striving, not by pretending, but by the quiet reality that Christ lives in me. You will express Yourself through me in a way that allows others to glimpse Your goodness, just as they saw it in Him.
May every word, every act, every moment of compassion be the outworking of Your life within me. Thank You that the outcome is already assured, because the Source is secure.