Teshuvah - The Shaping of Our Life

What shapes our life? What makes us who we are as individuals and as a collection of individuals? The Bible refers to this collection of individuals as a body. Those who believe in Jesus or who place their faith in Yeshua as the Savior of their life are known as the body of Christ, the body of Mashiach. This is what the believer in Christ/Mashiach becomes – His body. We are shaped by what we learn. By learning about Jesus/Yeshua we are shaped into Him. As we learn about Him we are shaped into His body. The more we learn about Him, the more we hear of His truth, the more we are conformed into His image. This is what the Bible tells us. We are conformed into His image as individuals and as we are joined to each other in His love, in the Person of who He is. We are saved in Him. All of humanity comes from the first two created humans. The first man was named Adam, and the first woman became named Eve. The first two created humans committed the first act of disobedience toward the Living God and sin entered into all of humanity. As a result, every human is born with the nature, or the inclination, to live a life in disobedience toward God. It is something he cannot help. It is the nature of man. This first act of disobedience broke fellowship with God, for man went his own way instead of following in the way God had made for him, the way that kept him in oneness, in fellowship with Him. His way is obedience. In the beginning, God and man had the same will. They walked the same way. They were friends. Disobedience bent the will of man in another direction. This was not the desire of God. His desire was, and has always been, for man to be in unbroken fellowship with Him. He wanted, and still wants, for man to be in a love relationship with Him. God knows everything about man. He knows the human heart better than anyone for He is the One who designed it. He knew what the first two would do, and He is the One that designed them with the freedom to choose their way. God’s purpose in creating beings that could choose freely was to have a people that would be His because they chose to be His. He gives to us freely and wants that freedom of giving returned to Him in hearts of love. He designed us so that we could choose to be what we wanted to be. Humans can choose to be a part of the Living God. We can choose to be one with Him by choosing the Way He made, which is salvation in the name of Jesus/Yeshua. Or humans can choose to be eternally separated from the Living God and lose life and love. God is love, and He is life. Without God, neither of those two things is possible for man. Death is eternal separation from the Living God. This state of existence is in a place called hell. Life is eternal oneness with the Living God. This state of being is called Life. It is called Salvation. Humanity as a whole strays from the Living God. Each person seeks after his own desires and walks in his own way. The Bible tells us there is a way that seems right to man but its end leads to death and destruction. God wants to be known by us as a Father, as our Father. Christ/Mashiach made the Way for this to be by coming to the earth in human flesh as the Son of God and the Son of Man. He was born to a virgin, He lived, He died, and He rose again and is now seated at the right hand of the Father. Those who believe this, those who believe in this Christ/Mashiach become the children of God and have eternal life in Him. Those who do not believe do not have eternal life. God is calling unto man – Teshuvah, which is a Hebrew word that means Return. He wants us to return to Him, to turn to Him and be saved by Him. This is His desire, but this is your choice. This is the call.