The God You Haven’t Met Yet
Day 2 — Unseen: John 14:9
Introduction
Yesterday you wrote down your picture of God. The one you actually carry, not the one you’re supposed to have.
Maybe it was something like: distant. Or disappointed. Or indifferent — the kind of God who set things in motion and stepped back, leaving you to figure it out alone. Maybe your picture was more demanding than loving. More judge than Father.
Here’s the thing about that picture: it came from somewhere. A parent who was never quite pleased. A church that handed out guilt more freely than grace. A prayer that went unanswered so long you stopped praying. Life has been shaping your picture of God since before you were old enough to know it was happening.
And here’s what Jesus wants to say about that picture: it’s not Him.
Not the real one. Not the Father.
Today, He wants to introduce you.
Scripture
Jesus answered: “Don’t you know me, Philip, even after I have been among you such a long time? Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, ‘Show us the Father’?”
— John 14:9 (NIV)
“Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.”
— Matthew 11:28-29 (NIV)
Reflection
The Portrait Jesus Paints
Philip had been walking with Jesus for three years. He had watched Him heal the sick, feed the hungry, speak to storms. And still he said: show us the Father.
Jesus’ response is almost tender in its patience: Philip. You’ve been looking at Him this whole time.
This is the claim that changes everything. Jesus is not a representative of God. Not a messenger from God. Not someone who points you toward God from a distance. He is the full portrait of the Father in human form. Every word Jesus spoke, every person He stopped for, every table He sat at — all of it is God showing you exactly who He is.
So look at what Jesus actually did.
He stopped for the people everyone else walked past. The sick. The grieving. The woman no one would defend. The children people tried to shoo away. The man nobody had helped to the water’s edge in thirty-eight years. Jesus moved toward the ones the world had decided didn’t matter — and treated them like they were the whole reason He came.
That is the Father’s heart. That is what God is actually like.
The God Who Is Inclined Toward You
Here is what the life of Jesus reveals about the Father: He is not neutral about you.
Not distant. Not indifferent. Not tallying your failures from across the room. The Father that Jesus reveals is inclined — leaning toward the weary, the burdened, the ones who are running on empty and doing their best to hold it together.
That might be the most surprising thing in the Gospels. Not the miracles. The direction Jesus always moved. Toward. Never away.
Think about the picture of God you wrote down yesterday. Hold it next to this one. Are they the same?
If they’re not — and for most of us, they’re not — then something important is happening right now. The curtain is moving. The light is getting in.
The God you assumed you knew and the God Jesus reveals are not always the same God. And the real one is better than you can imagine.
Grace Note
“See what great love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are!” — 1 John 3:1 (NIV)
Not tolerated. Not managed from a distance. Lavished. The Father Jesus reveals doesn’t love you carefully or cautiously. He loves you the way you pour everything out — holding nothing back. That’s the word John chooses. That’s the portrait Jesus paints.
Prayer Prompt
Jesus, I’m starting to wonder if the God I’ve been keeping at arm’s length isn’t really who You’ve been showing me all along.
I think I built my picture of God from the wrong materials. From people who let me down. From prayers that felt unanswered. From a version of faith that felt more like obligation than relationship.
Show me the Father. Not the one I assumed — the real one. The one who moves toward the weary. The one who stops for the people everyone else walks past. I want to know if that God has any interest in someone like me.
I think I already know the answer. Keep talking to me.
Amen.
Response
1. Revisit What You Wrote: Pull out the picture of God you wrote down yesterday. Read it again. Then write one sentence underneath it: “But Jesus shows me...” and finish it with something from today’s reflection. Let the two pictures sit next to each other.
2. Read the Portrait Slowly: Open your Bible or Bible app and read Luke 15 — the three parables of the lost sheep, the lost coin, and the lost son. These are Jesus painting the Father’s portrait in full color. Read it as a description of how God feels about you specifically.
3. Receive One Thing: Identify one word from today — gentle, humble, inclined, lavished — that you most need to believe about God right now. Write it somewhere you’ll see it today. Let it work on you.
To read all the posts in this devotional series, visit: https://www.thisistheway.live/t/unseen
© Steve Peschke / This Is The Way