“Therefore, brothers and sisters, in view of the mercies of God, I urge you to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God; this is your true worship. Do not be conformed to this age, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may discern what is the good, pleasing, and perfect will of God.” (vv. 1-2)

Romans 12 is the believer’s handbook.

The thesis is in the first two verses, which can be summarized (imperfectly): Because of God’s mercies, we live—and we live given to Him.

The handing over of our lived days—the sacrifice we’re called to—brings us into an entirely counterintuitive, countercultural, and counter-self mission. When we make our walking-around lives an act of worship, we sacrifice the norm, because we sacrifice the self.

That’s why we live given to the church, mutually submitted and mutually serving. That’s why we live given to purity, actually desiring the good while detesting the evil. That’s why we live given to peace, humbly praying for and hoping for and opening for those who mock, slander, defy, and despise us. That’s why we live given to hospitality, generosity, and humility.

So far as we are able, we pursue this peace—and we trust God to His own sovereign judgment.

It’s a steep calling.

Better keep the handbook handy.

— Tyler