Salvation:
Salvation comes through Jesus Christ alone. There is no other name, by which one can be saved. Many have tried to use the ploy of, I am good. I do good works. But then they miss the point altogether. The point is grace.
Grace:
Grace is a free gift of God. You cannot earn it, you can only accept it. It is freedom. It is God’s will for our lives. We so many times think we have to give something in return for the great gift of grace given to us. The gift in return is acceptance.
Acceptance:
Simply put, acceptance is just that. A place in your heart where you let go and let the Savior love you. Why is it so hard to allow someone to just love us without it being uncomfortable or something we feel like we have to return? When we fully have accepted that Jesus loves us, then we realize that we can be even our nastiest selves and that love remains. He may not like it, but He still loves and because of that kindness so simply put, this leads us to repentance.
Repentance:
Repentance is a total turning away from one’s old self. It is not a total life turn-around (360*), but a decision to stop and look at your life, and then walk the other direction away from the things that you normally have done, and the insanity you have practiced before. It is a new life, and God’s son has guarded you until this decision could be made fully. Jesus wants your life resurrected.
Resurrection:
A new life. Resurrection is a new life not only in the spirit now, but also in body. Some day, Jesus will return to give us a new life with him. Christians believe this, because Jesus spoke it to the disciples after He was resurrected and had ascended to the Father. It was a glorious and wondrous time for the disciples, and for all those who knew Jesus, those who watched him hang on the cross and die, and watched Him as He lived again in the flesh. He had conquered death, and actually gave people reason to ‘run towards’ the end of their lives and death, and to not be afraid. There is a coming glory Jesus wants all men to see.
Glory:
This is a place of totality. It is a place of complete. It is a place where you will see clearly instead of through a glass darkly. Jesus asks us through the disciple Paul in 1Corinthians to “put away childish things”, to grow up enough and be mature enough to accept this wondrous gift given us of Jesus. Jesus in His glory. What does that mean? Will he look human? Will He still be Jewish? Will he be happy, joyous, free? These are the things we look forward to, or hope for.
Hope:
Hope is something we have without seeing for sure. I was not alive when Jesus came to the earth, died, and rose again. But through the power of the Holy Spirit, God’s Spirit, I believe. I have hope. I will see Jesus in His timing, not my own. In the meantime, while I am waiting, He asks that I be an extension of the Love that He came to bear. I am that extension. I am doing my best, albeit ever so imperfectly, to love the way that Jesus loved. That means that I am accepting of where a person is at, without judgment, without a desire to see a person fall. I am looking towards the divine in that person. I am seeing what God sees in them, and He is excited about all of His creation.
Divine:
The perfected self through Jesus. This is something to look forward to (because I am not there yet). What will I look like? How old will I be? Where will I be living my eternity? What will things look like in a divine nature? There are so many questions without seemingly solid answers. The only thing that is solid is that I know that Jesus will be there. Everything else doesn’t really matter after all. We don’t know if we will have a house in the divine nature. Scripture only says that in "In my Father’s house there are many mansions”, but it doesn’t give a description of what a mansion looks like. 'Mansions' could be another way of describing our divine spirit. God is the house in which our spirits dwell. Nothing then, has a solid description but Jesus. So although divine, (since I am not there yet), I will go with what I know.
Jesus: It’s all about Jesus. Jesus in salvation. Jesus’ gift of grace. The acceptance of Jesus. Repentance for Jesus. Resurrection because of Jesus. Glory of Jesus. Hope in Jesus. Divine Jesus. My Jesus.

Written By: De'Anna L. West
© July 18, 2008