Have you ever heard someone say, “That view of God is just too good to be true”?
In my conversation with Pieter Zwart on Perspectives with Catherine Toon, he shared that people sometimes accuse him of preaching a God who is “too good to be true.” His response? “If that’s the accusation, I can live with that.”
Something in my heart leapt when he said that. Because the more I walk with Jesus, the more I realize: the goodness of God really is better than we think. And it is exactly that overwhelming goodness that begins to heal our fear-based religion from the inside out.
So many dear ones have been taught to brace themselves around God—to be grateful He “saved” them, but still quietly be afraid of what He might do if they get it wrong. They sing that God is a good Father on Sunday, but internally live as if He’s a volatile judge whose patience is running out or that He has more important things He has to attend to than our concerns.
What if that image of Him is the very thing He in His goodness wants to change?
If you’d like to watch the full episode with Pieter that inspired this blog, you can find it here:
The God Who Is Better Than You Think | Pieter Zwart on the Father’s Heart – https://youtu.be/zqUh1GUzJIc
Love, Not Terror, Draws Our Hearts Home
One of the clearest things scripture tells us is that it’s not terror that transforms us—it’s the goodness of God.
Do you despise the riches of His goodness, forbearance, and long suffering, not knowing that the goodness of God leads you to repentance? – Romans 2:4, NKJV (emphasis added)
Repentance is not groveling at the feet of an angry or disappointed God. It’s a change of mind—a deep, heart-level turning toward the truth of Who God really is and who we really are in Him. The goodness of God leads us there. His kindness melts our defenses and invites us into a different way of seeing.
Pieter shared a story from his own life that beautifully pictures the Father’s heart of God. After a sudden “heart seizure,” he woke up in intensive care barely able to remember anything for more than a minute. Still in great physical danger himself, he kept asking the same questions over and over.
And every time he heard that his oldest son had watched the whole crisis unfold, he started to cry. Of all the things he could have worried about—his heart, his brain, his future—the thing that moved him most was, “How is my son? Was he traumatized? Is he okay?”
As he processed this later with Holy Spirit, a question rose inside him:
If I, as a flawed human father, respond like this, how much more does my Heavenly Father respond to me?
If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask Him? – Luke 11:13, NKJV (emphasis added)
Dear one, the goodness of God is not smaller than your goodness as a parent, friend, or grandparent. God is a good Father. We are not more merciful, more tender, or more protective than He is.
When that begins to sink in, something in us starts to soften. We stop waiting for the blow to fall and start daring to believe we are truly loved, held, and wanted. That’s the beginning of real repentance—the goodness of God gently drawing our hearts home.
Faith Is a Relationship, Not a Magic Trick
A huge misconception many of us carry—often unconsciously—is this:
“If I just had more faith, God would give me the outcome I want.”
Anyone relate? I hear this all the time in conversations and private messages, and my heart aches every time. Because underneath that statement is an image of God as reluctant, withholding, and easily disappointed—a God Who must be convinced or activated, almost like a system we need to find the magic formula to hack.
That’s not the Father Jesus reveals.
Faith was never meant to be a magic trick to get God to do what we want. Faith is trust in a Person, Who defines goodness and sacrificial Love. It’s knowing the nature of Papa’s heart and leaning our full weight on His goodness and how much he adores us, even when we don’t yet see how things will turn out.
There is no fear in love; but perfect love casts out fear, because fear involves torment. – 1 John 4:18, NKJV
Fear-based religion tells us that if our outcome didn’t change, we must not have “believed hard enough.”
That really sucks, because not only did we not get the outcome we desired, but religion condemns us regarding our “lack of faith.” But real faith is birthed in the presence of perfect Love—the very Love that casts out fear.
For [if we are] in Christ Jesus, neither circumcision nor uncircumcision counts for anything, but only faith activated and energized and expressed and working through love. – Galatians 5:6, AMPC (emphasis added)
Circumcision, referenced here, refers to anything we do or do not do. Note, Love causes faith to be activated, energized and expressed. And Love is a Person Who is the Source of all faith because He is faithful! Our faith starts in Jesus, not in us—what a relief! So many of us have been taught that we are saved if we can muster the right kind of belief, in the right amount, for long enough. But scripture paints a different reality:
For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast. – Ephesians 2:8–9, NKJV (emphasis added)
Even the faith-piece is a gift! At the center of it all is not our striving to believe, but Christ’s own faithfulness and the steady goodness of God, Who is wild about us because He is Love!
Faith, then, looks less like jumping through spiritual hoops to keep God pleased and more like this:
“Papa, I don’t understand this outcome yet. I don’t see how this is good. But I know Your heart. I know You are better than I think. Help me trust Your goodness, faithfulness, and Love here.”
That’s a very different way of living. It makes space for grief, questions, and mystery—without collapsing into despair. It lets faith be a relationship with Papas’s heart, not a test we are constantly failing.
Letting Go of the Angry God Unlocks Our Destiny
As we let go of the picture of an angry, punishing God or a disappointed, distant God, something profound begins to shift in how we see our destiny—and the destinies of those we love.
When we believe God is harsh and easily offended, our calling feels fragile. One wrong step, one doubt, one misbelief, and it’s all over. The result is that we tend to parent, lead, and minister from fear. We try to control people “for their own good,” because deep down we’re trying to control outcomes and protect them from a God we’re not sure we can trust. This is the hallmark of religion and actually points away from God!
But when the goodness of God becomes our anchor—when we really believe God is better than we think and exactly like Jesus—everything changes.
Pieter’s journey with his own children is such a beautiful picture. As his image of God shifted from distant judge to Abba Father, the way he related to his children changed too. Instead of trying to control their beliefs through fear of hell or rejection, he began to trust that they already live and move and have their being in God.
For in Him we live and move and have our being, as also some of your own poets have said, For we are also His offspring. – Acts 17:28, NKJV
If we are all God’s offspring, then every person we meet is someone already held in the Father’s heart, whether they know it yet or not.
That revelation transforms everything:
- We parent differently—less like anxious spiritual managers and more like co-journeyers who trust Papa’s presence with our kids.
- We lead differently—offering safety, curiosity, and grace instead of pressure and fear.
- We “evangelize” differently—calling out the image of God in people, not treating them like projects to be fixed—awakening them to a God Who is in them (omnipresent, Gal. 1:15-16) and Who adores them.
The goodness of God leads to repentance in all of us: not just the “lost,” but every one of us who needs our minds changed about Who Father God truly is. As fear loosens its grip, our destiny opens. We become freer, more creative, more compassionate. We begin to live like beloved sons and daughters instead of spiritual orphans anxiously trying to earn our place.
Resting From Being the “Perfect Spiritual Child”
One of the most exhausting scripts I see in precious believers is this:
“If I can just be the perfect spiritual child—never doubt, never question, always obey exactly—then God won’t be mad at me.”
Beloved, that is not the voice of Jesus. That is the echo of fear-based religion, which can be flat out demonic.
You are not walking on eggshells with a temperamental deity. You are being securely parented by Love. The Father’s heart of God is not looking for reasons to disqualify you; He’s constantly affirming your belonging. He qualifies you even as Holy Spirit gently grows you up into who you really are in Christ.
I want to invite you into a simple moment of rest right now:
- Take a slow, deep breath.
- Place a hand over your heart.
- Pray, “Papa, I am tired of trying to be the perfect spiritual child. Show me where I’ve been afraid of You, and show me how good You really are in that place.”
- Then just notice any small sense of warmth, relief, or softening. You don’t have to force anything. Let the goodness of God meet you where you are.
Rest is not laziness; rest is trust in the goodness of God. As you relax into His heart, you’ll find that true repentance—real change—comes much more from allowing yourself to be loved than from being pressured.
Letting Goodness Win the Argument
If Jesus is the exact image of the Father, then every picture of God we’ve ever carried has to bow to Him.
He who has seen Me has seen the Father… – John 14:9, NKJV
When we look at Jesus—healing, forgiving, restoring, weeping with those who weep, lifting up the outcast—we are seeing the goodness of God on full display. Anything in our theology or imagination that paints God as less kind, less merciful, or less trustworthy than Jesus is simply not the final word.
The goodness of God is not sentimental; it is fierce and strong. It dismantles fear-based religion and invites us into a lifelong journey of repentance—a continual change of mind, again and again, as Love shows us just how good He really is.
Dear one, you are free to lean into that.
Free to ask your questions.
Free to let go of the angry-God image you inherited.
Free to rest in the Father’s heart, even when you don’t yet see the outcome you long for.
And as you do, you’ll discover that His goodness is always, always trying to draw you closer—not push you away.
If this resonates with you, I’d love to invite you to go deeper with my conversation with Pieter Zwart:
The God Who Is Better Than You Think | Pieter Zwart on the Father’s Heart – https://youtu.be/zqUh1GUzJIc
And here are some additional blog articles to go deeper with:
What’s Blocking God’s Blessing? (Hint: It’s Not God)
Do We Need to Convince God to Bless Us?
Living From God’s Pleasure: How to Rest in the Truth That You Already Have His Approval
May the goodness of God—better than you think, better than you’ve been told—keep gently leading your heart into freedom, belonging, and joy in Christ.
Love, Catherine Toon