come just as you are

¹My brothers, within the glorious faith of our Lord Jesus Christ, do not choose to show favoritism toward persons. ²For if a man has entered your assembly having a gold ring and splendid apparel, and if a poor man has also entered, in dirty clothing, ³and if you are then attentive to the one who is clothed in excellent apparel, so that you say to him, “You may sit in this good place,” but you say to the poor man, “You stand over there,” or, “Sit below my footstool,” ⁴are you not judging within yourselves, and have you not become judges with unjust thoughts? ⁵My most beloved brothers, listen. Has not God chosen the poor in this world to be rich in faith and heirs of the kingdom that God has promised to those who love him? ⁶But you have dishonored the poor. Are not the rich the ones who oppress you through power? And are not they the ones who drag you to judgment?

³⁷All that the Father gives to me shall come to me. And whoever comes to me, I will not cast out.

²⁸Come to me, all you who labor and have been burdened, and I will refresh you.

¹⁷And the Spirit and the Bride say: “Draw near.” And whoever hears, let him say: “Draw near.” And whoever thirsts, let him draw near. And whoever is willing, let him accept the water of life, freely.

¹⁰For the Son of man has come to seek and to save what had been lost.”

³²I have not come to call the just, but sinners to repentance.”

⁶Jesus said to him: “I am the Way, and the Truth, and the Life. No one comes to the Father, except through me.

²³For all have sinned and all are in need of the glory of God.

¹So what shall we say? Should we remain in sin, so that grace may abound? ²Let it not be so! For how can we who have died to sin still live in sin? ³Do you not know that those of us who have been baptized in Christ Jesus have been baptized into his death? ⁴For through baptism we have been buried with him into death, so that, in the manner that Christ rose from the dead, by the glory of the Father, so may we also walk in the newness of life. ⁵For if we have been planted together, in the likeness of his death, so shall we also be, in the likeness of his resurrection. ⁶For we know this: that our former selves have been crucified together with him, so that the body which is of sin may be destroyed, and moreover, so that we may no longer serve sin.

⁴⁰So then, this is the will of my Father who sent me: that everyone who sees the Son and believes in him may have eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day.”

⁸If we claim that we have no sin, then we are deceiving ourselves and the truth is not in us. ⁹If we confess our sins, then he is faithful and just, so as to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all iniquity.

¹⁹The Lord is near to those who are troubled in heart, and he will save the humble in spirit.

⁴⁴No one is able to come to me, unless the Father, who has sent me, has drawn him. And I will raise him up on the last day.