Maybe you've wondered about God for years. Maybe you're just beginning. Wherever you are, you're welcome here. These are some of the questions many of us ask about God, faith and life. Explore them in any order you like.
What are you wondering?
- WHAT IS GOD REALLY LIKE?
- DOES GOD REALLY LOVE ME?
- IS THERE REALLY A GOD?
- WHY DOES GOD SOMETIMES SEEM SO FAR AWAY?
- IF GOD IS GOOD, WHY IS THERE SO MUCH SUFFERING?
- WHAT IF RELIGION HAS HURT ME?
- DOES GOD ACCEPT ME AS I AM?
- WHAT ABOUT MY DOUBTS?
- WHO IS JESUS?
- WHY DID JESUS DIE?
- CAN I REALLY KNOW GOD?
- WHERE DO I BEGIN?
- RESOURCES TO KEEP EXPLORING
WHAT IS GOD REALLY LIKE?
People have many different ideas about God. Some picture Him as distant or demanding. Others imagine Him watching closely, waiting for them to get something wrong. Our experiences with parents, churches and religion can shape the God we imagine.
But Jesus gives us a very different picture.
Jesus said that when we see Him, we are seeing what God is really like.
Look at the way Jesus treated people. He welcomed those others rejected. He touched those others avoided. He showed compassion to the hurting, ate with people considered sinners, forgave His enemies and defended those who were condemned.
And ultimately, He gave His life for us.
Jesus didn't come to convince an unwilling God to love us. He came because God already loved us.
“Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father!”
John 14:9 NLT
If you're wondering what God is like, start with Jesus.
People have many different ideas about God. Some picture Him as distant or demanding. Others imagine Him watching closely, waiting for them to get something wrong. Our experiences with parents, churches and religion can shape the God we imagine.
But Jesus gives us a very different picture.
Jesus said that when we see Him, we are seeing what God is really like.
Look at the way Jesus treated people. He welcomed those others rejected. He touched those others avoided. He showed compassion to the hurting, ate with people considered sinners, forgave His enemies and defended those who were condemned.
And ultimately, He gave His life for us.
Jesus didn't come to convince an unwilling God to love us. He came because God already loved us.
“Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father!”
John 14:9 NLT
If you're wondering what God is like, start with Jesus.
DOES GOD REALLY LOVE ME?
It can be easy to believe that God loves people in general. It can be much harder to believe that God loves you personally.
You may wonder whether you've disappointed Him, wandered too far, made too many mistakes, or simply aren't good enough to deserve His love.
But God's love isn't something you have to earn.
The Bible says that God loved us even when we were far from Him. His love doesn't begin when we become better people, get our lives together, or become more religious.
Jesus is the clearest evidence of that love. He came for imperfect people, welcomed those who felt unworthy, and gave His life for us—not because we had earned God's love, but because we already mattered deeply to Him.
“God showed how much he loved us by sending his one and only Son into the world so that we might have eternal life through him.”
1 John 4:9 NLT
You don't have to persuade God to love you.
He already does.
It can be easy to believe that God loves people in general. It can be much harder to believe that God loves you personally.
You may wonder whether you've disappointed Him, wandered too far, made too many mistakes, or simply aren't good enough to deserve His love.
But God's love isn't something you have to earn.
The Bible says that God loved us even when we were far from Him. His love doesn't begin when we become better people, get our lives together, or become more religious.
Jesus is the clearest evidence of that love. He came for imperfect people, welcomed those who felt unworthy, and gave His life for us—not because we had earned God's love, but because we already mattered deeply to Him.
“God showed how much he loved us by sending his one and only Son into the world so that we might have eternal life through him.”
1 John 4:9 NLT
You don't have to persuade God to love you.
He already does.
IS THERE REALLY A GOD?
It's a question people have asked for thousands of years—and asking it doesn't make you faithless. It makes you human.
We can't put God under a microscope or prove His existence the way we prove a mathematical equation. But that doesn't mean there are no reasons to believe.
The universe exists. It has remarkable order and beauty. Life exists. We experience consciousness, love, morality and a deep longing for meaning. None of these things automatically proves God, but together they invite a reasonable question: Is all of this really here by accident, or is there Someone behind it?
The Bible doesn't begin by arguing for God's existence. It simply begins:
“In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.”
Genesis 1:1 NLT
But Christianity makes an even greater claim. It says the God behind creation didn't remain hidden. He stepped into human history in Jesus.
So if you're unsure whether God exists, you don't have to force yourself to believe.
Stay curious. Ask questions. Look at Jesus. And perhaps even try a simple, honest prayer:
“God, if You are there, help me discover who You really are.”
That may be a very good place to begin.
It's a question people have asked for thousands of years—and asking it doesn't make you faithless. It makes you human.
We can't put God under a microscope or prove His existence the way we prove a mathematical equation. But that doesn't mean there are no reasons to believe.
The universe exists. It has remarkable order and beauty. Life exists. We experience consciousness, love, morality and a deep longing for meaning. None of these things automatically proves God, but together they invite a reasonable question: Is all of this really here by accident, or is there Someone behind it?
The Bible doesn't begin by arguing for God's existence. It simply begins:
“In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.”
Genesis 1:1 NLT
But Christianity makes an even greater claim. It says the God behind creation didn't remain hidden. He stepped into human history in Jesus.
So if you're unsure whether God exists, you don't have to force yourself to believe.
Stay curious. Ask questions. Look at Jesus. And perhaps even try a simple, honest prayer:
“God, if You are there, help me discover who You really are.”
That may be a very good place to begin.
WHY DOES GOD SOMETIMES SEEM SO FAR AWAY?
There are times when God can feel very close—and other times when He seems completely absent.
You may pray and hear nothing. You may go through something painful and wonder where God is. You may even wonder whether His silence means He has forgotten you.
The Bible is surprisingly honest about this feeling. Even Jesus cried out from the cross, “My God, my God, why have you abandoned me?” He understands what it is like to experience the silence and darkness we sometimes feel.
But feeling far from God doesn't mean God is far from you.
Again and again, Scripture describes a God who comes near to hurting, frightened and brokenhearted people. He doesn't wait for us to find our way back to Him. He meets us where we are.
“The LORD is close to the brokenhearted; he rescues those whose spirits are crushed.”
Psalm 34:18 NLT
There may be times when you cannot sense God's presence at all.
But your feelings of distance don't determine His distance from you.
There are times when God can feel very close—and other times when He seems completely absent.
You may pray and hear nothing. You may go through something painful and wonder where God is. You may even wonder whether His silence means He has forgotten you.
The Bible is surprisingly honest about this feeling. Even Jesus cried out from the cross, “My God, my God, why have you abandoned me?” He understands what it is like to experience the silence and darkness we sometimes feel.
But feeling far from God doesn't mean God is far from you.
Again and again, Scripture describes a God who comes near to hurting, frightened and brokenhearted people. He doesn't wait for us to find our way back to Him. He meets us where we are.
“The LORD is close to the brokenhearted; he rescues those whose spirits are crushed.”
Psalm 34:18 NLT
There may be times when you cannot sense God's presence at all.
But your feelings of distance don't determine His distance from you.
IF GOD IS GOOD, WHY IS THERE SO MUCH SUFFERING?
This may be one of the hardest questions anyone can ask about God.
There are no easy answers when someone is grieving, suffering, or watching someone they love go through terrible pain. Sometimes explanations can feel especially hollow when what we really want to know is simply, “God, where are You?”
The Bible doesn't pretend that suffering isn't real. Nor does it describe everything that happens as something God wanted to happen.
Instead, it tells the story of a world that is deeply broken—and of a God who entered that brokenness Himself.
In Jesus, God didn't watch human suffering from a safe distance. He stepped into it. Jesus knew rejection, grief, injustice, betrayal, physical pain and death.
And when Jesus encountered suffering, He didn't tell hurting people that God had caused their pain for some mysterious purpose. He had compassion on them. He healed. He comforted. He wept.
At the grave of His friend Lazarus:
“Then Jesus wept.”
John 11:35 NLT
Christian faith doesn't give us a simple explanation for every tragedy. It gives us something else: a God who suffers with us, carries us through our pain, and promises that suffering will not have the final word.
God's goodness isn't revealed by pretending suffering is good.
It's revealed in Jesus entering our suffering to overcome it.
This may be one of the hardest questions anyone can ask about God.
There are no easy answers when someone is grieving, suffering, or watching someone they love go through terrible pain. Sometimes explanations can feel especially hollow when what we really want to know is simply, “God, where are You?”
The Bible doesn't pretend that suffering isn't real. Nor does it describe everything that happens as something God wanted to happen.
Instead, it tells the story of a world that is deeply broken—and of a God who entered that brokenness Himself.
In Jesus, God didn't watch human suffering from a safe distance. He stepped into it. Jesus knew rejection, grief, injustice, betrayal, physical pain and death.
And when Jesus encountered suffering, He didn't tell hurting people that God had caused their pain for some mysterious purpose. He had compassion on them. He healed. He comforted. He wept.
At the grave of His friend Lazarus:
“Then Jesus wept.”
John 11:35 NLT
Christian faith doesn't give us a simple explanation for every tragedy. It gives us something else: a God who suffers with us, carries us through our pain, and promises that suffering will not have the final word.
God's goodness isn't revealed by pretending suffering is good.
It's revealed in Jesus entering our suffering to overcome it.
WHAT IF RELIGION HAS HURT ME?
For many people, the deepest wounds connected with God didn't come from God at all. They came from people who claimed to speak for Him.
Perhaps you were judged, rejected, controlled, frightened or made to feel that you would never be good enough. Maybe religion left you carrying shame instead of hope.
If that has been your experience, it's understandable that you might want nothing more to do with God.
But before you decide what God is like, take another look at Jesus.
Jesus was remarkably gentle with wounded and struggling people. Some of His strongest words were actually directed toward religious leaders who burdened people, excluded them and misrepresented God's heart.
Jesus didn't come to place another religious burden on you. He said:
“Come to me, all of you who are weary and carry heavy burdens, and I will give you rest.”
Matthew 11:28 NLT
What people have done in God's name may have deeply hurt you.
But they don't get the final word about what God is like.
For many people, the deepest wounds connected with God didn't come from God at all. They came from people who claimed to speak for Him.
Perhaps you were judged, rejected, controlled, frightened or made to feel that you would never be good enough. Maybe religion left you carrying shame instead of hope.
If that has been your experience, it's understandable that you might want nothing more to do with God.
But before you decide what God is like, take another look at Jesus.
Jesus was remarkably gentle with wounded and struggling people. Some of His strongest words were actually directed toward religious leaders who burdened people, excluded them and misrepresented God's heart.
Jesus didn't come to place another religious burden on you. He said:
“Come to me, all of you who are weary and carry heavy burdens, and I will give you rest.”
Matthew 11:28 NLT
What people have done in God's name may have deeply hurt you.
But they don't get the final word about what God is like.
DOES GOD ACCEPT ME AS I AM?
Many people assume they need to change before they can come near to God.
Get your life together. Become a better person. Stop struggling. Believe the right things. Then perhaps God will accept you.
But that's not how Jesus treated people.
Jesus welcomed people before they had everything figured out. He shared meals with people others considered sinful. He befriended outsiders. He came near to people whose lives were messy and complicated.
God's acceptance doesn't mean that nothing in our lives ever needs to change. It means we don't have to change in order to become worthy of His love. His love is where transformation begins.
The Bible puts it beautifully:
“Accept each other just as Christ has accepted you so that God will be given glory.”
Romans 15:7 NLT
You don't have to clean yourself up before coming to God.
Come as you are. His love will meet you there.
Many people assume they need to change before they can come near to God.
Get your life together. Become a better person. Stop struggling. Believe the right things. Then perhaps God will accept you.
But that's not how Jesus treated people.
Jesus welcomed people before they had everything figured out. He shared meals with people others considered sinful. He befriended outsiders. He came near to people whose lives were messy and complicated.
God's acceptance doesn't mean that nothing in our lives ever needs to change. It means we don't have to change in order to become worthy of His love. His love is where transformation begins.
The Bible puts it beautifully:
“Accept each other just as Christ has accepted you so that God will be given glory.”
Romans 15:7 NLT
You don't have to clean yourself up before coming to God.
Come as you are. His love will meet you there.
WHAT ABOUT MY DOUBTS?
You don't have to be completely certain about God before you begin looking for Him.
Faith and questions are not opposites. The Bible is filled with people who questioned, struggled and sometimes wondered where God was. Jesus didn't turn them away.
One father came to Jesus desperately wanting to believe, yet still struggling with doubt. Instead of pretending to have more faith than he did, he simply told Jesus the truth:
“I do believe, but help me overcome my unbelief!”
Mark 9:24 NLT
Jesus responded to his honesty with compassion.
You can bring your questions to God too. You don't need to hide your uncertainty, manufacture certainty, or pretend to believe something you don't.
God isn't threatened by your questions.
Sometimes faith doesn't begin with certainty.
Sometimes it begins with enough curiosity to keep looking.
You don't have to be completely certain about God before you begin looking for Him.
Faith and questions are not opposites. The Bible is filled with people who questioned, struggled and sometimes wondered where God was. Jesus didn't turn them away.
One father came to Jesus desperately wanting to believe, yet still struggling with doubt. Instead of pretending to have more faith than he did, he simply told Jesus the truth:
“I do believe, but help me overcome my unbelief!”
Mark 9:24 NLT
Jesus responded to his honesty with compassion.
You can bring your questions to God too. You don't need to hide your uncertainty, manufacture certainty, or pretend to believe something you don't.
God isn't threatened by your questions.
Sometimes faith doesn't begin with certainty.
Sometimes it begins with enough curiosity to keep looking.
WHO IS JESUS?
Jesus is one of the most influential people who ever lived. But Christianity makes a much bigger claim about Him than simply calling Him a great teacher or religious leader.
Jesus said that when we see Him, we are seeing God.
That's why His life matters so much.
Look at Jesus and you see someone who welcomed outsiders, showed compassion to the hurting, forgave sinners, challenged religious hypocrisy and treated people with extraordinary dignity.
He didn't merely tell people that God loved them. He showed them what God's love looks like.
The Bible describes Jesus this way:
“Christ is the visible image of the invisible God.”
Colossians 1:15 NLT
Christians believe that in Jesus, God came to us—not as a distant idea, but as a human being we could see, hear and know.
And perhaps the most remarkable thing about Jesus is that He shows us a God who comes looking for us.
If you want to know what God is really like, look at Jesus.
Jesus is one of the most influential people who ever lived. But Christianity makes a much bigger claim about Him than simply calling Him a great teacher or religious leader.
Jesus said that when we see Him, we are seeing God.
That's why His life matters so much.
Look at Jesus and you see someone who welcomed outsiders, showed compassion to the hurting, forgave sinners, challenged religious hypocrisy and treated people with extraordinary dignity.
He didn't merely tell people that God loved them. He showed them what God's love looks like.
The Bible describes Jesus this way:
“Christ is the visible image of the invisible God.”
Colossians 1:15 NLT
Christians believe that in Jesus, God came to us—not as a distant idea, but as a human being we could see, hear and know.
And perhaps the most remarkable thing about Jesus is that He shows us a God who comes looking for us.
If you want to know what God is really like, look at Jesus.
WHY DID JESUS DIE?
The cross can be one of the most difficult parts of Christianity to understand.
It can even leave people with the impression that God was angry with humanity and needed Jesus to persuade Him to forgive us.
But the story of the cross begins somewhere very different.
It begins with God's love.
Jesus didn't come to rescue us from a Father who didn't want us. The Father sent Jesus because God loved us and wanted to bring us home.
“For this is how God loved the world: He gave his one and only Son.”
John 3:16 NLT
Humanity had become trapped in sin, brokenness and death—separated from the life God created us to share with Him. Jesus entered that brokenness and took its terrible consequences upon Himself.
At the cross, God wasn't standing at a distance from our pain.
God was in Christ, reconciling the world to himself.
2 Corinthians 5:19 NLT
Jesus carried our sin, bore our suffering, defeated the power of death and opened the way for us to be reconciled to God.
And the resurrection tells us that death didn't win.
The cross isn't the story of Jesus convincing God to love us.
It's the story of how far God's love was willing to go to bring us home.
The cross can be one of the most difficult parts of Christianity to understand.
It can even leave people with the impression that God was angry with humanity and needed Jesus to persuade Him to forgive us.
But the story of the cross begins somewhere very different.
It begins with God's love.
Jesus didn't come to rescue us from a Father who didn't want us. The Father sent Jesus because God loved us and wanted to bring us home.
“For this is how God loved the world: He gave his one and only Son.”
John 3:16 NLT
Humanity had become trapped in sin, brokenness and death—separated from the life God created us to share with Him. Jesus entered that brokenness and took its terrible consequences upon Himself.
At the cross, God wasn't standing at a distance from our pain.
God was in Christ, reconciling the world to himself.
2 Corinthians 5:19 NLT
Jesus carried our sin, bore our suffering, defeated the power of death and opened the way for us to be reconciled to God.
And the resurrection tells us that death didn't win.
The cross isn't the story of Jesus convincing God to love us.
It's the story of how far God's love was willing to go to bring us home.
CAN I REALLY KNOW GOD?
Christianity isn't simply about believing that God exists or learning the right things about Him.
At its heart, it's an invitation to know God personally.
Jesus spoke about God as someone who knows us, loves us and wants us to know Him. He described eternal life not merely as something that begins after we die, but as a relationship with God that can begin now.
“And this is the way to have eternal life—to know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, the one you sent to earth.”
John 17:3 NLT
Knowing God doesn't mean you'll suddenly understand everything about Him. Every relationship grows over time. There will still be questions, discoveries and even seasons when God seems difficult to understand.
But you don't need extraordinary spiritual experiences or a religious background to begin.
You can talk to God honestly. You can discover Jesus through the Gospels. You can ask Him questions. You can simply invite Him to make Himself known to you.
God isn't asking you merely to know about Him.
He's inviting you to know Him.
Christianity isn't simply about believing that God exists or learning the right things about Him.
At its heart, it's an invitation to know God personally.
Jesus spoke about God as someone who knows us, loves us and wants us to know Him. He described eternal life not merely as something that begins after we die, but as a relationship with God that can begin now.
“And this is the way to have eternal life—to know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, the one you sent to earth.”
John 17:3 NLT
Knowing God doesn't mean you'll suddenly understand everything about Him. Every relationship grows over time. There will still be questions, discoveries and even seasons when God seems difficult to understand.
But you don't need extraordinary spiritual experiences or a religious background to begin.
You can talk to God honestly. You can discover Jesus through the Gospels. You can ask Him questions. You can simply invite Him to make Himself known to you.
God isn't asking you merely to know about Him.
He's inviting you to know Him.
WHERE DO I BEGIN?
You don't need to have everything figured out to begin a relationship with God.
You don't need perfect faith, the right words, or a religious background.
You can begin exactly where you are.
Talk to God honestly. Tell Him what you believe—and what you're not sure you believe. Tell Him about your questions, your disappointments, your hopes and your fears.
Jesus made a simple promise:
“Those the Father has given me will come to me, and I will never reject them.”
John 6:37 NLT
You might begin with a simple prayer like this:
“God, if You are there, I want to know You.
Show me what You are really like.
Help me discover who Jesus is.
Lead me into the truth.”
There is nothing magical about those words. You don't need to repeat a particular prayer to make God listen to you.
Just be honest.
And if you want to discover more about Jesus, a wonderful next step is to read one of the four Gospels—Matthew, Mark, Luke or John—and simply ask as you read:
“Jesus, show me what God is really like.”
You don't have to know where the whole journey will lead.
You only need to be willing to begin.
You don't need to have everything figured out to begin a relationship with God.
You don't need perfect faith, the right words, or a religious background.
You can begin exactly where you are.
Talk to God honestly. Tell Him what you believe—and what you're not sure you believe. Tell Him about your questions, your disappointments, your hopes and your fears.
Jesus made a simple promise:
“Those the Father has given me will come to me, and I will never reject them.”
John 6:37 NLT
You might begin with a simple prayer like this:
“God, if You are there, I want to know You.
Show me what You are really like.
Help me discover who Jesus is.
Lead me into the truth.”
There is nothing magical about those words. You don't need to repeat a particular prayer to make God listen to you.
Just be honest.
And if you want to discover more about Jesus, a wonderful next step is to read one of the four Gospels—Matthew, Mark, Luke or John—and simply ask as you read:
“Jesus, show me what God is really like.”
You don't have to know where the whole journey will lead.
You only need to be willing to begin.
YOU'RE WELCOME TO KEEP EXPLORING
You don't have to figure everything out today.
If something you've read here has stirred another question, keep asking. Keep looking. And most of all, keep discovering Jesus.
MEET JESUS FOR YOURSELF
One of the best ways to discover what God is like is to spend some time with Jesus. Read His story. Notice what He says, how He treats people, and what He reveals about His Father.
READ THE GOSPEL OF JOHN ONLINE FOR FREE
You don't have to figure everything out today.
If something you've read here has stirred another question, keep asking. Keep looking. And most of all, keep discovering Jesus.
MEET JESUS FOR YOURSELF
One of the best ways to discover what God is like is to spend some time with Jesus. Read His story. Notice what He says, how He treats people, and what He reveals about His Father.
READ THE GOSPEL OF JOHN ONLINE FOR FREE
And if you have 6 minutes to spare, we would encourage you to watch the Father's Love Letter.
