Live a life that pleases God
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. And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God. —ROMANS 12:1-2
The goal of these two verses is to live a life that pleases God, a life in the center of God’s will. How do you do that? By being transformed through the renewing of your mind. This principle is all through Scripture. Transformation occurs as the Holy Spirit changes your thinking.
As you meditate on the Word of God, it takes root in your heart and shapes your thinking. You have to have a mind transformed by the renewing of biblical truth. Don’t let yourself think and act according to the system of beliefs and values around you. You cannot allow yourself to be shaped by the spirit of the age. And the key to all of that is to present yourself as a living sacrifice to God. Paul is saying you need to get up on the altar and hold back nothing.
And you’re going to have to stay there, because we have a habit of crawling back off again. Get up on that altar, offer yourself to God as your act of reasonable or logical or spiritual worship. Paul says, “I beseech you to do that.” And he bases it all on the mercies of God which are yours in Christ. He’s been good to you. Do this in return.