Calling all Bible-search whizzes!

[Kristen]

Is anyone able to help me find a Scripture to the effect that Jesus is not interested in who we are, but rather in who we will be/are becoming? DH remembers learning it from one of the Gospels in grade school but cannot be more specific, and I have exhausted my searching abilities!

Thanks so much to any of you who can try to help me! (Also, if you find any other related quotes from the Catechism or other solid Catholic sources, I would appreciate those, too.)

God bless you!

Kristen

 

[Daniel_Marsh]

John 17:20-26

20"My prayer is not for them alone. I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message, 21that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you. May they also be in us so that the world may believe that you have sent me. 22I have given them the glory that you gave me, that they may be one as we are one: 23I in them and you in me. May they be brought to complete unity to let the world know that you sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me. 24"Father, I want those you have given me to be with me where I am, and to see my glory, the glory you have given me because you loved me before the creation of the world. 25"Righteous Father, though the world does not know you, I know you, and they know that you have sent me. 26I have made you known to them, and will continue to make you known in order that the love you have for me may be in them and that I myself may be in them."

John 15

1"I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener. 2He cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit, while every branch that does bear fruit he prunes[a] so that it will be even more fruitful. 3You are already clean because of the word I have spoken to you. 4Remain in me, and I will remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me.
5"I am the vine; you are the branches. If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing. 6If anyone does not remain in me, he is like a branch that is thrown away and withers; such branches are picked up, thrown into the fire and burned. 7If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be given you. 8This is to my Father’s glory, that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be my disciples.

9"As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Now remain in my love. 10If you obey my commands, you will remain in my love, just as I have obeyed my Father’s commands and remain in his love. 11I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete. 12My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you. 13Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends. 14You are my friends if you do what I command. 15I no longer call you servants, because a servant does not know his master’s business. Instead, I have called you friends, for everything that I learned from my Father I have made known to you. 16You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you to go and bear fruit—fruit that will last. Then the Father will give you whatever you ask in my name. 17This is my command: Love each other.

 

[Daniel_Marsh]

John 17:17
Sanctify them by the truth; your word is truth.

John 17:19
For them I sanctify myself, that they too may be truly sanctified.

1 Thessalonians 5:23
May God himself, the God of peace, sanctify you through and through. May your whole spirit, soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.

2 Thessalonians 2:13
Stand Firm ] But we ought always to thank God for you, brothers loved by the Lord, because from the beginning God chose you to be saved through the sanctifying work of the Spirit and through belief in the truth.

Hebrews 9:13
The blood of goats and bulls and the ashes of a heifer sprinkled on those who are ceremonially unclean sanctify them so that they are outwardly clean.

1 Peter 1:2
who have been chosen according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, through the sanctifying work of the Spirit, for obedience to Jesus Christ and sprinkling by his blood: Grace and peace be yours in abundance.

google.com/search?hl=en&q=sanctification+theosis+&btnG=Search

add each gospel to the above search

 

[Verbum]

Hi Kristen,

It’s a nice thought, but I don’t think the Bible has it in that particular form. I interpret your thought as meaning that God is ready to forget all the evil of our past if we repent. . The parable of the Prodigal Child is all about this.

Luke 15:

7 I tell you, there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who need no repentance

.

What do you think?

Verbum

 

[Chellow]

The best example of that to me is the part of the rich young man.

 

[Kristen]

John 17:17
Sanctify them by the truth; your word is truth.

The best example of that to me is the part of the rich young man.

The parable of the Prodigal Child is all about this.

…

What do you think?

Though I do wish that there were such a quote as I mentioned, I had a feeling that the sentiment was more implied than stated directly. Thank you all for pointing me in the right direction!

Kristen

 

[jcrichton]

Is anyone able to help me find a Scripture to the effect that Jesus is not interested in who we are, but rather in who we will be/are becoming? DH remembers learning it from one of the Gospels in grade school but cannot be more specific, and I have exhausted my searching abilities!

Thanks so much to any of you who can try to help me! (Also, if you find any other related quotes from the Catechism or other solid Catholic sources, I would appreciate those, too.)

God bless you!

Kristen

***Hi, Kristen!

…there are several thoughts out there… one implies that God does not care how we come to Him because He hates sin but Loves man. This thought I’ve heard it applied to various lifestyles (prostitution, homosexuality, drugadiction, contraceptive abortion, domestic abuse…)–I’ve even seen a commercial on TV from some denominational church which suggest that others hate certain groups in society but not them since God loves them as they are…

This is not so! Though Jesus came to rescue us from sin He, as Yahweh, demands that we repent from our sin and follow (obey) Him!

As far as God not concerned about where we come from… I know of no Scriptural passage that is worded in that particular way but He truly does not care who we are before we come to Him.

Jesus was always accused of socializing with sinners–what His critics failed to understand was that He came to them as He found them and then requested that they return to God and remained in God!

Here’s one of my favorate passages:

‘Come, let us talk this over,’ says Yahweh.
‘Though your sins are like scarlet,
they shall be white as snow;
though they are red as crimson,
they shall be like wool.
If you are willing to obey,
you shall eat the good things of the earth.
But if you refuse and rebel,
the sword shall eat you intead–
for Yahweh’s mouth has spoken.’ *** (Isaiah 1:18-20)

This passage is reflected in Ezekiel 18.

Maran atha!

Angel