One of the questions I get asked a lot is, “What’s the most important thing for me to know about God?”

You better make sure that God exists, right? The Bible doesn’t talk about philosophical atheism though. In fact, it says,  “The fool has said in his heart there is no God” (Psalm 14:1). This means no one really thinks it’s a possibility that there isn’t a God. The most important thing you need to know about God is not whether or not He exists; the truth is, everybody knows God exists. There are not many intellectually true atheists, or people who actually believe that there is no reason to believe God is there. So, what’s the most important thing to know about the God we all know exists?

One way to make war against false ideas is to look at how your enemy is going to attack you. The way the enemy attacked us from the very beginning is he told us that God isn’t good, that His words were not true, and that disobeying Him was not a big deal. These three lies cause every single one of us to continue messing up our lives. Every single time one of us blows it, every time one of us sins, we go in a direction that’s not pleasing to God. We do it for one reason: We don’t know that God and all of His ways are peace. We don’t really believe that God is good.

We don’t believe what Scripture says, that the Lord God is a shield, that He gives grace and glory, and that no good thing does He withhold from those who love Him. We don’t believe that in His presence is fullness of joy and that in His right hand are pleasures forever. If you know the goodness of God, if you know that it’s the blessing of the Lord that makes you rich and that He adds no sorrow to it, you’re going to want to run to God. You’ve got to figure out who God is.

Here’s God’s character:

  • He demonstrates His love in that while we were sinners, Christ died for us
  • He gives His life for His friends
  • He does nothing from selfishness or empty conceit but with humility of mind
  • He considers others, even the humans He created who rebelled and hated Him
  • He does nothing except what’s in our best interest
  • He is good
  • He is filled with loving kindness and truth.
  • He is slow to anger and abounding in compassionate grace toward you

By no means will He let the guilty go unpunished, but God is good and He calls you to enjoy life with Him. The most important thing to know about God is that He’s good, and to run to Him is life. He’s not looking to rip you off. He’s looking to set you free.