Romans 12 Devotional

Made New by Mercy

“Therefore I urge you, brothers, on account of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God, which is your spiritual service of worship.”Romans 12:1 (BSB)

After eleven chapters on what God has done, Paul turns to how believers should live, and he grounds every word of it in God's mercy (12:1). The response he asks for is total: offer your whole self to God, bodies included, as a living sacrifice. Instead of being pressed into the world's shape, believers are transformed as God renews their minds (12:2).

The rest of the chapter shows what that renewed life looks like. No one is to think too highly of himself, because every gift comes by grace and each member of the body belongs to the others (12:3-8). Love is to be sincere, hospitable, patient in trouble, and quick to share joy and tears (12:9-15). Most strikingly, believers are to bless those who persecute them and leave vengeance to God, feeding an enemy instead of repaying evil (12:14, 17-20). None of this is how people earn mercy. It is how people who have received mercy begin to live. Answering evil with good shows others something of the kindness God has shown to you.

To think about: Who has wronged you recently, and what is one good thing you could do for them in light of the mercy God has shown you?