The Sacrificial Love Of God Series

**The Sacrificial Love of God**

**Introduction: The Guide on the River**

Several years ago, our family packed up and headed to Red River, New Mexico. Henriann and I, Melanie and Cina — the girls were young, maybe 8 and 10. We were looking for adventure, and we found it in the form of a white water rafting trip down a river that was just wild enough to make you question your decision-making.

Before we pushed off, our guide introduced himself. He was the kind of guy who looked like he'd been born on a river. Broad shoulders, calm eyes, completely unbothered by the fact that we'd just signed a stack of waivers acknowledging we could die. We signed them anyway — partly because we were committed, and partly because of him.

He had three things going for him that made all the difference.

He was strong. One look at him and you knew — if this raft flips, he's getting us out.

He was kind. He wasn't just doing a job. He genuinely wanted us to enjoy this. He wanted to bring every single one of us back to shore.

And he communicated clearly. Before we hit the first rapid, he walked us through every command he'd shout — strokes on the right, strokes on the left. He had a plan. He shared it plainly. We knew exactly what to do.

Strong. Kind. Clear.

By the time we hit the water, I wasn't afraid anymore. I was ready. His presence gave me something I didn't have before we met him — confidence, courage, and comfort.

That's what I want you to feel about God.

That's why we've spent the last several weeks exploring who God is. Because when you truly know Him — when you understand His strength, His kindness, and the clarity with which He speaks — you don't have to face this river called life gripping the sides of the raft in fear. You can pick up your paddle and row.

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**What We've Learned: Three Truths About God**

Let me take just a few minutes to bring you back up to speed on where we've been.

God is great. We opened this series standing at the edge of creation and looking out. The universe is staggering in its scale — billions of galaxies, each containing billions of stars, stretching across distances so vast that the numbers lose their meaning. And all of it spoken into existence by God. Not assembled. Not constructed. Spoken. The same voice that called the cosmos into being is the voice that knows your name. That is a great God.

God is kind. Here's where it gets personal. Power without kindness is just dominance. A God who is great but cold would be terrifying — someone to hide from, not run to. But the God we find in Scripture is overflowing with kindness. He didn't have to make the world beautiful. A functional world would have been enough. But He gave us sunsets. He gave us music. He gave us the smell of rain and the taste of good food and the warmth of people we love.

I think often about a woman I read about — a former atheist — who held her newborn child and said, "I love this baby more than evolution requires." That line stops me every time. She was bumping up against something she couldn't explain away. Beauty that exceeds function. Love that outstrips survival. That's the fingerprint of a kind Creator.

God has spoken. He is not distant or silent. He has gone to extraordinary lengths to communicate with us — through a book unlike any other ever written. Sixty-six books. More than forty authors. Written across fifteen centuries, in multiple languages, across wildly different cultures and circumstances. You'd expect contradictions. You'd expect chaos. Instead, you find a single, unified, breathtaking story — the story of a God who refuses to give up on His people. The Bible is not merely impressive literature. It is God speaking. He wants to be known.

Great. Kind. Clear. And because of all three, we can navigate this life with confidence, courage, and comfort.

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**One More Thing Before We Move On: He Is Sacrificially Loving**

I want to linger here before we close this series — because there's one more facet of God's greatness we haven't named yet, and it may be the most stunning of all.

God is sacrificially loving.

I thought about whether I even needed to say "sacrificially." Isn't sacrifice already built into what real love means? But I kept the word, because I want us to feel the weight of it. The God who created the universe — the One whose voice shook the foundations of existence into being — chose sacrifice. For us.

That deserves more than a nod.