Religion presents God as if he is a mafia godfather. They want you to fear Him instead of fall in love with Him. Jesus portrayed the truth about God in all He said and did. He told His disciples that when they see Him, they are actually seeing what God is like (John 14:9).
The reason religion sees God as the godfather is that their hearts are established in performance Christianity. They believe paying their tithes will get them protection from the Devil or from bad things happening to them. I remember when I was dating my wife her car broke down, and she believed it was because she forgot to pay her tithes the previous Sunday. Thank God she knows better today, but many people still hold to these unbiblical superstitious views about God.
This is why Jesus came to show us all what God is really like, so we could see for ourselves that He is a good God.
Jesus taught the Pharisees He would use mercy to bring sinners to repentance.
“But go ye and learn what that meaneth, I will have mercy, and not sacrifice: for I am not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance” (Matthew 9:13).
The Pharisees taught people that to please God or to get His attention you had to make a sacrifice to Him. How is that any different from someone paying tribute to the godfather to gain his attention and favor?
Jesus tells the Pharisees He isn’t looking for a sacrifice but wants to show those who don’t know God that He is full of mercy. Religion demands a sacrifice, but God offers us His mercy. Religion tries to convince you God wants to take from you. However, Jesus wants you to see that God desires to give you something we all need His mercy.
When we allow Jesus to renew our minds and establish our hearts to the true nature and character of God, our hearts will rest in the truth about Him.
God isn’t looking for a sacrifice from you. He provided His Son as the sacrifice you needed. It is His mercy that draws us to Him and transforms our lives. God isn’t looking for perfection from us; He wants us to receive His perfect love.
“There is no fear in love [dread does not exist]. But perfect (complete, full-grown) love drives out fear, because fear involves [the expectation of divine] punishment, so the one who is afraid [of God’s judgment] is not perfected in love [has not grown into a sufficient understanding of God’s love]” (1 John 4:18, AMP).