an introduction.

hi and welcome to by and through. however you may have found this, sure glad you did. the purpose of this blog will be to share the Gospel (the Good News) of Jesus Christ as laid out in the Bible. it is written from the perspective that all Scripture (the Bible) is inspired by God and is accurate, reliable, and trustworthy. 


there will be four parts answering these questions: 
who are we? what’s the problem? what’s the solution? what now?  


the posts may utilize material from trusted sources (i.e. websites, podcasts, videos, articles) that will help to better answer the questions. 


and off we go...


* note:  the format of this blog went a bit awry. to read in order, you must choose the post on the bottom of the list at the left-hand side of your screen and work your way up. my apologies for the confusion.

a resourceful conclusion.

if you answered yes to that final question, then 

1. HOOOORAY! welcome to the family! and  

2. you may have more questions. 

my first suggestion would be to find a friend that you know is a Christian. hopefully he|she can talk through things with you and point you toward more helpful people|resources to answer your questions.


in the meantime (or for future reference), here are some online spots that can be quite insightful...


the bible
the blog(s)
the builders

now what?

here's how far we've come:  we know who we are... we are created in the image of God, yet we are sinful. we know the problem... we have no means to overcome our sin, but God gave us one:  Jesus. we know the solution... Jesus made the way. 

now what do we do?

we trust. that's it. we trust that Jesus lived, died, and rose again to pay the penalty of sin, which is death. 


the belief that all of this is true cannot be mustered on our own. enter blog title:  by and through. Ephesians says, "For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith--and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God." 


God's gift was not just his son to give us a way but also the ability to trust that the way he made is true. it's called grace.

will you trust?

what's the solution?

we know who we are. we know we have a problem. now what?

what do you think? what have you heard as an answer to this question? or have you ever considered it?

there is hope. there is a way to become something we're not. are you wondering how? i surely hope so. 


remember in the last post we talked about how God cannot accept sin? it seemed harsh, but here's the good news:  he made a way to be accepted! that way? one word: Jesus.

who do you know Jesus to be?

let's look at who he is:  this video captures it in a power-packed 4 minutes. 


Jesus is the only one capable of bridging the gap of separation because he's the only Son of God. he's perfect. what we could never overcome, he did. does that make sense?

the problem is that every person born is sinful. our sin deserves death (Romans 6:23). enter Jesus. he was born, but not sinful like us. he lived perfectly and died, but he didn't stay dead. he rose from the grave in order to defeat death and to pay the price that we deserve to pay (i.e. death). 

if this is making you terribly curious to know more, then keep reading...

what's the problem?

you may be sitting there thinking... ok, i now know more about who the Bible says i am, so what? well, there's more. we aren't just created in the image of God then left to do whatever we please. in fact, it was a much more purposeful beginning. here, i'll let you read...

Then God said, "Let us make man in our image, in our likeness, and let them rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air, over the livestock, over all the earth, and over all the creatures that move along the ground."

So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them. 

God blessed them and said to them, "Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it. Rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air and over every living creature that moves on the ground."

Then God said, "I give you every seed-bearing plant on the face of the whole earth and every tree that has fruit with seed in it. They will be yours for food..."

did you see it? did you see the purpose? they were to "be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it." then man and woman were given the privilege of access to anything in the garden. in chapter 2 of genesis, the story is detailed a bit more. this is added:  "And the Lord God commanded the man, 'You are free to eat from any tree in the garden; but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat of it you will surely die.'" 


those are pretty serious words, so what do you think happened? if this story is familiar to you, then you know that the man and woman (Adam and Eve) did not heed the command. instead, when they were tempted to disobey, they did. enter the problem. for everyone...


we are inherently valuable because of who created us, yet we are also innately rotten. the word the Bible uses to describe this rotten state is sinful. 


what's sin? i'm so glad you asked. it's what separates us from God. you see, God is perfect. he made us like Him, but He is infinitely better. he never sins or does anything wrong, and He can't accept anyone who isn't at that same standard. seem harsh?


allow me to use a human illustration. let's take the olympics:  can anyone compete? exactly. no. not everyone can compete. only the best of the best. that means there are standards that keep people separated from participation. for the olympics that standard is being the best (or nearly) in whichever event you chose to compete. for God the standard is perfection. 


so here we are:  left with a problem that seems insurmountable because how can we ever become something we're not? how can we get rid of the sin problem?

who are we?

this is a massively important question, and quite frankly the baseline for any understanding of the Gospel.

take a moment to answer this question:  who are you? 

now ask:  who do others say I am?

which of those two questions is most important to you? why?

the Bible gives a clear description of who we are:  we are men and women created (Psalm 139) in the image of God (Genesis 1:26-27), meaning we were made with the same qualities that God possesses. it does not mean we are God or even little gods. it instead means we have a will, emotion, intelligence, humor. these facts give us worth. the opinions of others don't, nor does your own thoughts about yourself. only a creator can give the creation meaning, purpose, and value. 

this song takes an honest approach to what men/women say is important versus what the Lord says gives us identity. listen closely... you might hear a bit of foreshadowing.

Identity -- Lecrae