By the Mercies of God, Present Your Body

Paul makes the startling claim that giving our lives to God in joyful service is not extraordinary: it is simply reasonable. It is the only service that such an amazing gospel plainly deserves from a spiritual heart! How jarring this is to our Western sensibilities! How disturbing to our independent, self-centered way of thinking. Paul, however, is not making this assertion in a vacuum or without explanation. He begins the verse with the words, “I beseech you therefore” because the conclusion he is sharing with us is grounded in the deep, deep grace of God that he has been describing to us in the preceding portion of his letter.When we rightly perceive the mercy of God to sinners sacrificial service to God is the natural response, the overflow of our hearts.