A Living Sacrifice

12 Therefore, I urge you,^(A) brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice,^(B) holy and pleasing to God—this is your true and proper worship. ² Do not conform^(C) to the pattern of this world,^(D) but be transformed by the renewing of your mind.^(E) Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is^(F)—his good, pleasing^(G) and perfect will.

⁵ One person considers one day more sacred than another;^(A) another considers every day alike. Each of them should be fully convinced in their own mind. ⁶ Whoever regards one day as special does so to the Lord. Whoever eats meat does so to the Lord, for they give thanks to God;^(B) and whoever abstains does so to the Lord and gives thanks to God. ⁷ For none of us lives for ourselves alone,^(C) and none of us dies for ourselves alone. ⁸ If we live, we live for the Lord; and if we die, we die for the Lord. So, whether we live or die, we belong to the Lord.^(D)

¹⁴ I am convinced, being fully persuaded in the Lord Jesus, that nothing is unclean in itself.^(A) But if anyone regards something as unclean, then for that person it is unclean.^{(B) 15} If your brother or sister is distressed because of what you eat, you are no longer acting in love.^(C) Do not by your eating destroy someone for whom Christ died.^{(D) 16} Therefore do not let what you know is good be spoken of as evil.^(E)