By the mercies of God, Paul asks the church members to present their bodies as living sacrifices, holy and acceptable to God.

When I read the opening lines of this letter written by the Apostle Paul I can’t help but think about his conversion. From being a man who had been hurling murderous threats against the church to now asking it’s members to become ‘living sacrifices.’ It’s a remarkable transformation! Proof that people can change and that the power of God’s love helps in the process of transformation.

I am also reminded that there are some people, it seems, who seek to become ‘martyrs.’ This letter encourages people to seek ways of choosing to remain alive as an act of spiritual worship. So I believe this is another teaching and encouragement given to the church to help us lead people out of a culture of death into a culture of life. A teaching that encourages us to live not so much to please our selves or to find our acceptance through other people, but to live our lives in a manner pleasing and acceptable to God. In living this way, it seems we learn to accept one another and our various functions in the world and in the church understanding that each function is equally important in the mind of Jesus Christ and in the ministry of the church, which we call the body of Christ on earth.

By God’s grace given to the Apostle Paul, we have this letter today and it seems to me that it is every bit as important and relevant today as it was when it was written.

Let us pray,

Lord God we thank you for the grace bestowed upon Paul and for this appeal for us to live for God. Help us to seek your Holy Word and to inwardly digest it that we may make sound judgements according to the faith you have given to each person. Help us to accept the gifts in other people and help us to function in the world and in the church in ways that are holy and acceptable to you. Help us to love genuinely, as you do. Grant us patient and the gift of perseverance to overcome evil with goodness. In you holy name we pray. AMEN