Book of Common Prayer

12 God has been kind to you. So I ask you, brothers, give your bodies to him like a living sacrifice. That is, a holy sacrifice. It will please God. And it is what you should do for him.

² Do not be like the people of this world, but have a new mind. Then you will prove for yourselves what God wants you to do. That will be good. It will please God. And it will be all right.

³ God has given me this gift. So I say this to every one of you. Do not think you are better than you really are. But think of yourself as you are. You are what you are because God has given you something when you believed.

⁴ In a body there are many parts, but all the parts do not do the same thing.

⁵ In the same way, we are many people. But we are one body because we are all joined together in Christ. Each one of us is a part of all the others.

⁶ We have different gifts because God has blessed us in different ways. If a person can speak words from God, he must say what he believes he should say.

⁷ If a person can help others, he must help others. If a person can teach, he must teach.

⁸ If a person can talk to others, he must talk to others. If a person can give something, he must give it gladly. If a person can be a leader, he must try to be a good leader. If a person can help someone, he must do it gladly.

¹² Then Jesus talked to the people in the temple. He said, `I am the Light of the world. The one who comes with me will never walk in the dark, but he will have light that gives life.'

¹³ The Pharisees said, `You are talking about yourself. What you say is not true.'

¹⁴ Jesus said to them, `Even if I do talk about myself, what I say is true. I know where I come from and I know where I am going. But you do not know where I came from, or where I am going.

¹⁵ You judge in the way people judge matters. I do not judge any person.

¹⁶ But even if I do judge, I judge right. I am not alone. My Father who sent me is with me.

¹⁷ Even in your law it says that when two people say the same thing, it is true.

¹⁸ I talk about myself, and my Father who sent me talks about me.'

¹⁹ They asked him, `Where is your Father?' He said, `You do not know me and you do not know my Father. If you knew me, you would know my Father also.'

²⁰ When Jesus said these words he was teaching in the temple. He was in the place where the money is kept. No one caught him because it was not yet his time.