Intentional living leads us to present ourselves to God as a holy offering, surrendered to His love and His ways.
Paul invites us into a life shaped by God’s mercy. He reminds us that everything God has done, His every act of compassion and forgiveness, leads us to respond by offering ourselves to Him.
We offer ourselves in a quiet, ongoing surrender of “living and holy sacrifice.” It is worship expressed through the way we choose what is right even if it costs us something. Worship is a posture of our hearts.
A Closer Look at Romans 12
As we take a closer look at Romans 12:1-2, we hear Paul’s counsel to us, as Believers, in how to live surrendered to God.
Therefore I urge you, brethren, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies a living and holy sacrifice, acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service of worship. And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect. ~Romans 12:1-2 NASB
Therefore
Paul begins with “Therefore,” signaling a shift. After eleven chapters unpacking God’s mercy, grace, and redemptive plan, he now turns to the believer’s response. Worship is no longer confined to temple rituals; it becomes a whole-life offering or a living offering.
We have the “therefore” of dedication, and it is this dedication that is the basis for the other relationships that Paul discussed in this section. ~Warren Wiersbe
Since all things are for His glory, we must respond by offering ourselves for that purpose. ~John MacArthur
I Urge You
Paul’s tone is of urgency and earnest desire for Believers to listen and diligently act
We are to set apart our lives – keep ourselves pure and invite the refining and purifying work of the Holy Spirit – so God can use us on a moment’s notice in any situation. ~Blackaby
Mercies of God
The Mercies of God are seen throughout the Old and New Testaments.
The gracious, extravagant, divine graces Paul expounded in the first eleven chapters, including God’s love, grace, righteousness, and the gift of faith. ~John MacArthur
Divine initiative and human response is the pattern in both the OT and NT. ~F.F. Bruce
Present Your Bodies a Living and Holy Sacrifice
We present our bodies as a living and holy sacrifice when we give our energy, skills, and talents in worship to God and in service to others.
Our Lord Jesus Christ is the perfect illustration of a “Living sacrifice,” because He actually died as a sacrifice, in obedience to His Father’s will. ~Warren Wiersbe
Sacrificial living under the Old Testament meant the offering of animals. The New Testament speaks of the sacrificial offering of Christ on the Cross for our sins.
Under the Old Covenant, God accepted the sacrifices of dead animals. But because of Christ’s ultimate sacrifice, the OT sacrifices are no longer of any effect. For those in Christ, the only acceptable worship is to offer themselves completely to the Lord. Under God’s control, the believer’s yet-unredeemed body can and must be yielded to Him as an instrument of righteousness. ~John MacArthur
And being found in human form, He humbled Himself, becoming obedient to the point of death, yes, the death of the cross. ~Philippians 2:8 WEB
Our living offering to God is praise and thanksgiving.
Lord, open my lips. My mouth will declare Your praise. For You don’t delight in sacrifice, or else I would give it. You have no pleasure in burnt offering. The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit. O God, You will not despise a broken and contrite heart. ~Psalm 51:15-17 WEB
A Living Sacrifice
Our holy and living offering, in the likeness of Christ, is obedience to the Father from a heart of love.
For just as by one man’s disobedience (failing to hear, heedlessness, and carelessness) the many were constituted sinners, so by one Man’s obedience the many will be constituted righteous (made acceptable to God, brought into right standing with Him). ~Romans 5:19 AMPC
And what this love consists in is this: that we live and walk in accordance with and guided by His commandments (His orders, ordinances, precepts, teaching). This is the commandment, as you have heard from the beginning, that you continue to walk in love [guided by it and following it]. ~2 John 1:6 AMPC
Holy Sacrifice which is Acceptable to God
This isn’t us striving to be holy. This is us receiving the work of Christ in us, which makes us acceptable to God because we are seen through the blood of Jesus shed on the Cross for our sins.
Holy living of which God approves. These words borrow from OT sacrificial language and describe a life that is morally and spiritually spotless, just as the sacrificial animals were to be. ~John MacArthur
From this secure place of redemption, we can then step out to live in a holy and acceptable life before Him through the power of the Holy Spirit. It is the Holy Spirit who renews and empowers us to live for Him.
We are to set apart our lives – keep ourselves pure and invite the refining and purifying work of the Holy Spirit – so God can use us on a moment’s notice in any situation. ~Blackaby
Spiritual Service of Worship
Spiritual service of worship or reasonable service. Reasonable because all things are from the Living God and are offered to Him.
Reasonable service may also be translated “spiritual worship.” As believer-priests, we do not come to God with the bodies of slain animals but with the spiritual sacrifice of yielded lives. ~William MacDonald
The worship offered by mind and heart. ~F.F. Bruce
Not Conformed to this World
Paul then turns our attention to the world around us. A world seeking to shape our mind and actions. Conformity is not subtle. Culture blatantly advertises and flagrantly seeks to entice us to conform to its godless standards.
Paul calls us to examine our lives to see if we are being shaped by the godless world around us, or by the One who created us to be a living offering of praise and glory to Him.
Conformed refers to assuming an outward expression that does not reflect what is really inside, a kind of masquerade or act. This world refers to the system of beliefs, values, or the spirit of this age. ~John MacArthur
Christ died to deliver us from this world. The world is crucified to us, and we are crucified to the world. It would be absolute disloyalty to the Lord for believers to love the world. Anyone who loves the world is an enemy of God. ~William McDonald
Worldly conformity shows up in comparison, consumerism, and cynicism. The world’s systems are rooted in power and fame.
For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh and the lust of the eyes and the boastful pride of life, is not from the Father, but is from the world. ~1 John 2:16 NASB
We are called to have the mind of Christ.
But you didn’t learn Christ that way, if indeed you heard Him and were taught in Him, even as truth is in Jesus: that you put away, as concerning your former way of life, the old man that grows corrupt after the lusts of deceit, and that you be renewed in the spirit of your mind, and put on the new man, who in the likeness of God has been created in righteousness and holiness of truth. ~Ephesians 4:20-24 WEB
Set your mind on the things that are above, not on the things that are on the earth. ~Colossians 3:2 WEB
Transformed by the Renewing of our Minds
Paul says that transformation begins in our minds. Not through behavior modification or willpower, but through the renewal of our minds.
If then you were raised together with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated on the right hand of God. Set your mind on the things that are above, not on the things that are on the earth. For you died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. ~Colossians 3:1-3 WEB
Renewal happens when we sit with Scripture, when we pray, when we allow God to challenge our assumptions, when we allow Him to soften our hearts and plant His Words of Life, so that good fruit can begin to come forth in our lives.
The world wants to control your mind, but God wants to transform your mind. It describes a change from within. The world wants to change your mind, so it exerts pressure from without.
But the Holy Spirit changes your mind by releasing power from within. If the world controls your thinking, you are a conformer; if God controls your thinking, you are a transformer.
God transforms our minds and makes us spiritually minded by using His Word. As you spend time meditating on God’s Word, memorizing it, and making it part of your inner man, God will gradually make your mind more spiritual. ~ Warren Wiersbe
As our minds are renewed, we begin to discern God’s voice and His will. We begin to sense what aligns with His heart. We start to trust His guidance, even when it feels uncertain, because we know He is leading us toward living in wholeness.
Rather than be shaped to look like the world, the Christian’s mind is to be renewed in order to appreciate the importance and benefits of God’s will as revealed in His Word. ~The Moody Bible Commentary
Transformation is a re-creating of the old into the new. Christlikeness is being made in His image, which makes us a living new creation.
Christians [need to] outwardly manifest their inner, redeemed natures daily. That kind of transformation can occur only as the Holy Spirit changes our thinking through consistent study and meditation on Scripture. The renewed mind is one saturated with and controlled by the Word of God. ~John MacArthur
Will of God
Paul speaks of the will of God being good, acceptable, and perfect, so let us look at Scriptures referencing the will of God.
Be Saved
Who wishes all men to be saved and [increasingly] to perceive and recognize and discern and know precisely and correctly the [divine] Truth. ~1 Timothy 2:4 AMPC
Delivered from Evil
Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ, who gave Himself for our sins so that He might rescue us from this present evil age, according to the will of our God and Father, to Him be the glory forevermore. Amen. ~ Galatians 1:3-5 NASB
Walk in Newness of Life
Therefore we have been buried with Him through baptism into death, so that as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, so we too might walk in newness of life. ~Romans 6:4 NASB
Renew Our Minds through Scripture
That you put away, as concerning your former way of life, the old man that grows corrupt after the lusts of deceit, and that you be renewed in the spirit of your mind, and put on the new man, who in the likeness of God has been created in righteousness and holiness of truth. ~Ephesians 4:22-24 WEB
Sanctify Ourselves
For this is the will of God: your sanctification, that you abstain from sexual immorality, that each one of you know how to control his own body in sanctification and honor. ~1 Thessalonians 4:3-4 WEB
Rejoice Always, Pray without Ceasing, Give Thanks in All Circumstances
Always rejoice. Pray without ceasing. In everything give thanks, for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus toward you. ~1 Thessalonians 5:16-18 WEB
Be Filled with the Holy Spirit
Be filled with the Spirit. ~Ephesians 5:18b WEB
King Solomon’s Counsel
The conclusion, when all has been heard, is: fear God and keep His commandments, because this applies to every person. ~Ecclesiastes 12:13 NASB
[To] be transformed by the renewing of our mind…[to] think the way God thinks, as revealed in the Bible. Then we can experience the direct guidance of God in our lives. And we will find that, instead of being distasteful and hard, His will is good and acceptable and perfect. ~William McDonald
Here are three keys for knowing God’s will. The first is a yielded body, the second a separated life, and the third a transformed mind. ~William McDonald
Holy and Acceptable to God
Romans 12:1-2 isn’t a command to strive harder. It’s an invitation to live surrendered to God by being anchored in His Words of Life (Scripture), shaped by His mercy and grace, and transformed from the inside out.
For from Him and through Him and to Him are all things. To Him be the glory forever. Amen. ~Romans 11:36 NASB
Today, we can offer ourselves to God as a holy and living offering surrendered to His love.
Prayer
Lord, we come to You with hearts willing to be shaped by Your truth. Teach us what it means to offer our lives as a living sacrifice that is holy, pleasing, and fully surrendered to You.
Lord, we receive the work of Christ on the cross, setting us free from the bondage of sin. Lord, open our eyes to see the patterns of this world that dull our spirit and distract our focus.
Lord, we choose to renew our minds in Your Word so that our thoughts, desires, and decisions align with Your perfect will. Increase our discernment that we recognize the enticement of the lust of our flesh and eyes and the deceitfulness of pride. Thank you for opening a way of escape from every temptation and empowering us to run to You, delivering us from the power of the evil one.
Lord, we praise and honor You for our transformation from the inside out, so that we might bring glory to Your name through our love, surrendered lives, and obedience, which Christ within us makes the hope of glory. Lord, we long to be a holy and living offering surrendered to You. Amen.
Recommendations
Exploring How to Pray – Strength with Dignity
Exploring Intentional Waiting – Strength with Dignity
How to Find God – Strength with Dignity
References
Amplified Bible, Classic Edition (AMPC) Copyright 1954, 1958, 1962, 1964, 1965, 1987 by The Lockman Foundation.
Blackaby, Henry and Richard, Thomas, Melvin and Norman Blackaby. [B] Encounters with God: The Book of Romans. Thomas Nelson, 2007.
Bruce, F.F. [BR] New International Bible Commentary. Zondervan, 1999.
MacArthur, John. [MA] The MacArthur Bible Commentary. Thomas Nelson, 2005, page 1545.
MacDonald, William. [MD] Believer’s Bible Commentary. Thomas Nelson, 2016, pages 1728-9.
Moody, Dwight L. The Moody Bible Commentary. [Moody] General Editors: Michael Rydelnik and Michael Van Laningham. Moody Publishers, 2014, page 1765.
New American Standard Bible 1995 (NASB1995), copyright 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation.
Wiersbe, Warren B. The Wiersbe Bible Commentary: The Complete New Testament. [WBC NT] Published by David C. Cook, 2007, page 441-2.
World English Bible (WEB) by Public Domain. The name “World English Bible” is trademarked.
Bible Gateway Blogger Grid Member #bgbg2 #BibleGateway
