WHY it matters//

Our calling as Christians to be transformed into the image of Jesus is a life-long pursuit. There is a foundational understanding that we must embrace: that God’s ways and thoughts are higher than the ways of people. It requires humility to truly follow Jesus and a willingness to change how we think and live whenever we are confronted by His truth. We willingly submit ourselves to scripture and to the direction of the Holy Spirit. The more we are like him, the more we will lead others to know him.

WHAT it's talking about//

Paul wrote this letter to the Romans around 57 AD. Roman culture was very pagan and godless. As Paul writes these words to this church it would have been just as challenging for them to live this out as we would find it today (if not more so). Paul pleads with these young Christians to reject the ways of the world in favor of the ways of God for the sake of their witness.

Romans 11:33-36, 12:1-2 NLT

33 Oh, how great are God’s riches and wisdom and knowledge! How impossible it is for us to understand his decisions and his ways!

34 For who can know the Lord’s thoughts? Who knows enough to give him advice?

35 And who has given him so much that he needs to pay it back?

36 For everything comes from him and exists by his power and is intended for his glory. All glory to him forever! Amen.

1 And so, dear brothers and sisters, I plead with you to give your bodies to God because of all he has done for you. Let them be a living and holy sacrifice—the kind he will find acceptable. This is truly the way to worship him. 

2 Don’t copy the behavior and customs of this world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think. Then you will learn to know God’s will for you, which is good and pleasing and perfect.