In this episode of the Things Above podcast, James Bryan Smith offers this thought from above: God is the most joyous being in the universe. Unfortunately, this seldom enters our minds. Instead, we imagine that God is mad about everything. This false narrative is influenced by a gospel narrative that tells us Jesus took our beating to quell God’s insatiable anger.

In the Divine Conspiracy, Dallas Willard offers a better narrative that is also very true. Dallas says, “It is a great and important task to come to terms with what we really think when we think of God.” A question people find themselves wrestling with is this, Is God angry or is God full of joy? Dallas goes on to say, “We should, to begin with, think that God leads a very interesting life and that he is full of joy. Undoubtedly he is the most joyous being in the universe…Great tidal waves of joy must constantly wash through his being.”

Can you imagine this to be true? What is God REALLY like? To find the answer, we have to look no further than Jesus. Because anything that we say about God the Father must match or be in complete accord with what we see and hear from Jesus.

Dallas affirms this idea by saying, “Now, Jesus himself was and is a joyous, creative person. He does not allow us to continue thinking of our Father who fills and overflows a space as a morose and miserable monarch, a frustrated and petty parent, or a policeman on the prowl. One cannot think of God in such ways while confronting Jesus’ declaration ‘He that has seen me has seen the Father.’ One of the most outstanding features of Jesus’ personality was precisely an abundance of joy.”