Romans 12:1-8

Expanded Bible

Give Your Lives to God

12 ·So [Therefore] brothers and sisters, since God has shown us great mercy, I ·beg [urge; appeal to] you to offer your ·lives [selves; ^Lbodies] as a living sacrifice to him. Your offering must be ·only for God [holy] and pleasing to him, which is the ·spiritual [or authentic; true; or appropriate; fitting; or rational; reasonable] way for you to worship. ² Do not be ·shaped by [conformed to; pressed into a mold by] this ·world [age]; instead be ·changed within [transformed] by ·a new way of thinking [or changing the way you think; ^Lthe renewing of your mind]. Then you will be able to ·decide [discern; test and approve] what ·God wants for you [is God’s will]; you will know what is good and pleasing to him and what is perfect. ³ Because God has given me ·a special gift [his grace], I have something to say to everyone among you. Do not think you are better than you are. [Instead] You must ·decide what you really are [think sensibly; think with sober discernment] ·by [based on; in accordance with] the amount of faith God has given you. ⁴ [^LFor just as] Each one of us has ·a [^Lone] body with many parts, and these parts all have different ·uses [functions]. ⁵ In the same way, we are many, but in Christ we are all one body, and each part belongs to all the other ·parts [^Lmembers]. ⁶ We all have different gifts, each of which came because of the grace God gave us. The person who has the gift of prophecy should use that gift ·in agreement with the faith [or in proportion to their faith]. ⁷ Anyone who has the gift of serving should serve. Anyone who has the gift of teaching should teach. ⁸ Whoever has the gift of ·encouraging [exhorting] others should ·encourage [exhort]. Whoever has the gift of giving to others should give ·freely [generously]. Anyone who has the gift of being a leader should ·try hard when he leads [lead diligently/enthusiastically]. Whoever has the gift of showing mercy to others should do so with ·joy [cheerfulness].