Romans 12:1 NKJV
I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service.
“Brethren” is a personal salutation that Paul uses to show the warmth, love, and oneness of a family of God. With that intimacy established, he urges believers to ask themselves, “How should we respond to God’s great mercy towards us?”
Considering the great plan of salvation through which God’s mercies have come to us, our most appropriate response is to offer Him sacrifices. In the Old Testament, Israelites offered animal sacrifices at the temple in Jerusalem. But now Paul is urging the Church, which is the “New Israel”, to offer our bodies (all that we are) as “living sacrifices” each day to God.
Our God is holy. Therefore, our sacrifices must be holy, unpolluted, set apart for God, and reserved for His service. Following the present world system with its sinful ways and compromises is dangerous to the Christian life. Our life must become like a sweet-smelling aroma, an acceptable sacrifice pleasing to God. To be acceptable to God, we must renew our minds according to the patterns of His Word (Romans 12:2). Our life needs to be a daily expression of worship. More importantly, we must offer our sacrifice joyfully, as God loves a cheerful giver (2 Corinthians 9:7).
In practice, this is achieved by thinking and doing God’s will every day – by taking our everyday, ordinary life and placing it before God as an offering. For of Him and through Him and to Him are all things, to whom be glory forever. Amen (Romans 11:36).
