Give him everything, and start with your mind.

Romans 12:1-2
Therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, I urge you to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God; this is your spiritual worship. 2 Do not be conformed to this age, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may discern what is the good, pleasing, and perfect will of God.

V1
-Romans 12 starts with “Therefore”. Always ask “What is the ‘therefore’ there for?” The first 8 chapters are Paul’s theological dissertation on salvation. 9-11 are Paul’s thesis on Israel’s part in all this in which he claims over and over that God’s promises are good and He is faithful. Now, Paul shifts from theology to practicality. Chapter 12 marks a great shift in topic from talking about the lofty things of God to how we live a life in response to God. So, for 11 chapters Paul discusses some of the heaviest theology in the Bible and then answers the question; “So what?” The “therefore” means “Now that we are thinking of all the greatness of God, all His mercies, His faithfulness, His great love for humanity…THEREFORE respond this way.” F. F. Bruce says theology and doctrine are never taught in the Bible simply to be known. They are taught in order to translated into practice. The purpose of theology is to shape how we believe and live.

-Paul says the only proper response to gaining knowledge of such an intensely merciful and loving God is to offer the totality of ourselves to Him. It does little good to be convinced of the precepts in the first 11 chapters if we are not convinced to the point of a changed life. This is not salvation by works, this is the appropriate response to the free gift. We no longer make sacrifices to obtain mercy, we become the sacrifice because of mercy.

-Paul, as an apostle, had the right to command this response, but he doesn’t. He begs for us to choose it. This is the language of grace, not the law. Paul begs his readers, and us, to choose to offer ourselves completely to God, to surrender our bodies.
What does this mean, to offer our bodies? What does it mean that is our “spiritual act of worship”?
The word “spiritual” here is logikos. It comes from the word logos (logic). The wide use of the word is represented in the various translations; spiritual, reasonable, responsible, logical, intelligent. The idea here is that offering God our bodies, and striving to live out our faith in our bodies, is both spiritual and logical. It is a form of worship that is deeply spiritual and at the same time well reasoned and intelligent. What is our common assumption about worship and what things are spiritual? We typically think things are spiritual and worshipful when they are in a specifically spiritual setting. Only when I’m singing a worship song, only when I’m at church, only when I’m surrounded by stained glass windows and have my Bible open and hear angels singing….you get the point. But Paul’s theology is that any act done as a offering to God is spiritual, reasonable and significant.

V2
-What does this look like? It starts with changing our desired outcome, our goal, the target that we are aiming at. Do not be conformed to this age but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. The NIV says “the pattern of this world”. What are the things you desire most? What things, when you see them or hear about them or see them in others, do you think, “That is what I desire. That is what I want to be like.”?
What is the difference between being conformed and being transformed? Conforming is forcing something to take a certain shape, but it doesn’t change the substance. Transforming is actually changing the substance or essence of what something is. Once you come to faith in Jesus you are a new creation. Your inner substance is different. When you embrace Jesus you are transformed and have the nature of Christ. Imagine it like this: All the world is cats, when you embrace Jesus you become a dog, something altogether different. You may be able to get a dog to meow and drink milk from a dish and poop in a box. You may be able to get a dog to act like a cat in some ways, but it is still a dog in substance.
When we as believers act like the world we are conforming to its image even though our substance is different. Paul says not to do this but to keep pursuing the transformation. Keep being transformed. Embrace the change in nature and find out what all that means. Paul says this is fundamentally an inner issue. It happens first in our minds and then plays out in our actions. Just like you can’t change a dog into a cat by making it poop in a box, you can’t force yourself into the image of Christ by making yourself do certain “Christian” things. It must originate in the mind, in the will, in the inner person and then it will play out in actions.

-Note the passive nature of Paul’s instruction. Paul doesn’t say “transform yourselves”, but “be transformed.” This is something the Holy Spirit does in us, and yet Paul is telling us to be transformed which means there must some responsibility on our part. There is an active/passive nature to this process. The Holy Spirit seeks to change our thinking, but we must respond and submit to what He is seeking to do.
How do we allow God to transform our thinking? Reading Scripture is a big part of it.

Somehow, as we engage in this process of offering our bodies to God, which starts in the mind, we are able to discern what God’s will is. How does this work? It’s pretty simple really. The more our mind is transformed and becomes like the mind of Christ, the more able we are to know what He His will is. The more I think like Jesus, the more I know what He wants.