“The people who were sitting in darkness saw a great Light, And those who were sitting in the land and shadow of death, Upon them a Light dawned.” From that time Yeshua began to preach and say, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.” Matthew 4:16-18
Repentance is not a natural phenomena. Repentance is an eternal exercise. The religion of Christianity has naturalized repentance. Personal perspective caused by natural understanding empowered by human culture removes the truth of repentance at the level of the Lord's kingdom. The loop most people get stuck in is their own reasoning which more than not is driven by the need to understand through human intellect. The need to understand is what drives worry. Worry puts undue pressure on the mind and heart of a person. This pressure then becomes the stronghold whereby religious repentance is then an unseen enemy therefore blocking the ability to believe and receive at the level of the Lord's holy and righteous kingdom.
For the Gentiles eagerly seek all these things; for your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things. But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be added to you. “So do not worry about tomorrow; for tomorrow will care for itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own. Matthew 6:32-34
Salvation is the well directed life. Life is meant to be lived in the fullness of the Holy One who created all that exists. So much has changed in our world, but not in our human nature. Whether we recognized it or not - there is so much recorded in who we are through the DNA of our natural being. DNA is humanity's record of time throughout the generations. But within this record there remains the spiritual consequence of choice. This one reason why we are so much like the people we have never met, so to speak. The very person, "personhood" and personality that we are if left unredeemed by the Lord will still reflects the very choice of someone that came before us.
So from now on, we do not look at anyone from a worldly viewpoint. Even if we once regarded the Messiah from a worldly viewpoint, we do so no longer. Therefore, if anyone is united with the Messiah, he is a new creation — the old has passed; look, what has come is fresh and new! And it is all from God, who through the Messiah has reconciled us to himself and has given us the work of that reconciliation, which is that God in the Messiah was reconciling mankind to himself, not counting their sins against them, and entrusting to us the message of reconciliation. Therefore we are ambassadors of the Messiah; in effect, God is making his appeal through us. What we do is appeal on behalf of the Messiah, “Be reconciled to God! God made this sinless man be a sin offering on our behalf, so that in union with him we might fully share in God’s righteousness.” II Corinthians 5:16-21 (CJB)
The gift of a well directed life is reflected by the condition of the soul. A truly blessed life is not the result of manipulation or control. A blessed life is the result of a loving Father's will which we have lived. Even if the life has not been so great it is still blessed because the Father's will is presence. Again, human understanding cannot have the worry of a need to know - this includes the "why's" of our life. It then becomes critical that a person embraces Eternal Father's love more than the whys in life. It is His love and compassion for us that our spirit man lives. Eternal Father's love should not be limited to human defining. All we know about love should be defined by how we live in the Lord's holiness and how this holiness is demonstrated because we are loved. True holiness is to be set apart but this set "apartness" is the result of embracing the Lord's love not just for ourselves specifically, but also for those in the world around us.
Purpose is set by holiness. Everyone of us is assigned to master life by sanctifying it through the response and responsibility of obeying the Master of Life.
Thomas said to Him, “Lord, we do not know where You are going, how do we know the way?” Jesus *said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father but through Me. If you had known Me, you would have known My Father also; from now on you know Him, and have seen Him.” John 14:5-7
Are we to be like Thomas asking the unknowing question "how"? There is already within the function of salvation the answer of how the way is to be walked and lived. There is the eternal record of what was first spoken in the beginning.
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things came into being through Him, and apart from Him nothing came into being that has come into being. In Him was life, and the life was the Light of men. The Light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it. John 1:1-5
This was quite helpful for me; it has given me clarity on a few things. Thank you, Rabbi, for your obedience and being a vessel, the LORD can speak through.