Pleeeeease! Can you hear a child begging their parents for something. Maybe for a treat, or a toy, or to stay up later?

Romans 12 begins with Paul begging us to follow his advice. Different versions use appeal, request, plead, urge, or beseech. These words all tell us one thing: that it is our choice.

So, who is Paul begging and what is he asking of them? He is speaking to his brothers in Christ, and that includes all Christians then and now. He is asking us to live a life worthy of claiming the name of Jesus Christ. He asks us to “present our bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God”. Then he tells us this is our “spiritual worship”, or our “spiritual service of worship”, or our “true and proper worship”, or our “reasonable service”. In other words, it is reasonable for us to live as God desires us to because He has done so much for us (“by the mercies of God…”). True worship involves all of us – our heart, soul, strength, and mind (Luke 10:27).

One of my frequently used phrases is, “What does that look like?”. Well, fortunately, Paul tells us in the very next verse, “Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind”. Conform means to be in agreement with, or to adopt the form of those around you. Transform means to change in character or to change the appearance of. Both are verbs – action words. Both of them require us to change. This is what Paul is pleading with us about – we will either be conformed by the world or we will be transformed to be holy and acceptable to God. Our world was created perfect but sin corrupted it. Until Jesus returns to restore it to perfection, we must live in it. We are warned several times in Scripture not to love the world, become like the world, think like the world.

It sounds like an easy choice, and it is. The hard part is choosing it every minute of every day. Choosing to live it with our whole body – heart, soul, strength, and mind. Every time we make a choice about our attitudes, actions, words, thoughts, etc. This requires humility and being humble requires us to let go of our pride, arrogance, and egos. Not so easy.

Paul then goes on to warn us not to think of ourselves more highly than we ought. Sounds like more humility.

This chapter is full of godly advice; here are just some pieces of that advice. Believe God has given you a gift, figure out what yours is, use it. A healthy body (church) needs every member to be using their gifts. Genuinely love one another. Be constant in prayer. Hate evil. Contribute to the needs of the body. Show hospitality. Live in harmony with one another. Do not be haughty. If possible, live peaceably with all. Never avenge yourself.

Chapter 12 concludes with this, “Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.”. This brings us full circle. The world is evil; if we are conformed to the world, we will be overcome by evil. If we choose to be transformed, we will be able to overcome evil with good.