A Living Offering

After eleven chapters explaining God's mercy, Paul turns to response with the word therefore. In view of God's mercy, he urges, offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God, which is your reasonable act of worship. Notice that worship is not only a song or a service. It includes the hands that work, the mouth that speaks, and the calendar we keep. Then a second instruction: do not be pressed into the mold of this world but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Change begins on the inside, in how we think, and only then shows on the outside. The world has many voices telling us who to be. Today, ask what one thought pattern needs renewing, such as worry, comparison, or cynicism. Bring it to God, and find a passage of Scripture to read against it.