“I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service.”

Romans 12:1 NKJV

Have you considered the truth that Paul expresses here?  Many Christians readily admit that they understand the instructions to present their bodies a living sacrifice to God.  The question I’m asking is, have you considered why we are to do that?

There are two clear reasons stated in this verse for presenting ourselves to God.  First we are to live totally and completely for God because of His mercies toward us.  The verse starts out “I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God. . .”  What mercies?  Certainly Paul had in mind the greatest mercy of all, that God would send His Son Jesus to Calvary’s cross in our stead.  In this particular context I believe Paul is referring specifically to the complete scope of God’s working in creation that he has already expounded on in chapters 1-11 of this great letter.

A second reason we are instructed to give ourselves completely to God is that it is our “reasonable service.”  This is an enlightening statement to be sure.  Reasonable in this passage is from a Greek word from which we get the English word logical.  Thus what Paul is telling us here is that giving ourselves completely to God is logical!

Praise God for His great mercies.  Let us press on in our quest to live completely and totally for God knowing that it is the most reasonable, logical thing we can do.