What can I give to the Lord?\par The Lord gave me everything I have!\par
Romans 12:1 - Easy To Read Version So brothers and sisters, I beg you to do something. God has shown us great mercy. So offer your lives as a living sacrifice {\cf2\super [130]} to God. Your offering must be only for God and will be pleasing to him. This offering of yourselves is the spiritual way for you to worship (serve) God. Tuilleadh leaganachaKing James Version (Oxford) 1769 I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service. Amplified Bible - Classic Edition I APPEAL to you therefore, brethren, and beg of you in view of [all] the mercies of God, to make a decisive dedication of your bodies [presenting all your members and faculties] as a living sacrifice, holy (devoted, consecrated) and well pleasing to God, which is your reasonable (rational, intelligent) service and spiritual worship. American Standard Version (1901) I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service. Common English Bible So, brothers and sisters, because of God’s mercies, I encourage you to present your bodies as a living sacrifice that is holy and pleasing to God. This is your appropriate priestly service. Catholic Public Domain Version And so, I beg you, brothers, by the mercy of God, that you offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God, with the subservience of your mind. Douay-Rheims version of The Bible - 1752 version I BESEECH you therefore, brethren, by the mercy of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, pleasing unto God, your reasonable service. |
What can I give to the Lord?\par The Lord gave me everything I have!\par
I hope my words and thoughts please you.\par Lord, you are my Rock {\cf2\super [111]} —\par You are the One who saves me.\par
The Lord says, “I will bring those people to my holy mountain. I will make them happy in my house of prayer. The offerings and sacrifices they give me will please me. Why? Because my temple {\cf2\super [439]} will be called a house of prayer for all nations.”
\{The Lord says,\}\par “Why do you bring me incense {\cf2\super [43]} \par from the country of Sheba? {\cf2\super [44]} \par Why do you bring me sweet-smelling cane from a far away country?\par Your burnt offerings don’t make\par me happy.\par Your sacrifices don’t please me.”\par
Think about the things you will say. And come back to the Lord. Say to him,
I tell you that her many sins are forgiven. This is clear, because she showed great love. But the person that feels only a little need to be forgiven will feel only a little love when he is forgiven.”
Don’t change yourselves to be like the people of this world. But let God change you inside with a new way of thinking. Then you will be able to decide and accept what God wants for you. You will be able to know what things are good and pleasing to God and what things are perfect.
to be a minister of Christ Jesus. God made me a minister to help the non-Jewish people. I serve God by teaching his Good News. {\cf2\super [151]} I do this so that the non-Jewish people may be an offering that God will accept. Those people are made holy {\cf2\super [152]} for God by the Holy Spirit. {\cf2\super [153]}
Brothers and sisters, I beg you to help me in my work by praying to God for me. Do this because of our Lord Jesus and the love that the Holy Spirit {\cf2\super [158]} gives us.
God has been very kind to you. And he has been patient with you. God has been waiting for you to change. But you think nothing of his kindness. Maybe you don’t understand that God is kind to you so that you will change your hearts and lives.
Don’t offer the parts of your body to serve sin. Don’t use your bodies as things to do evil with. But you should offer yourselves to God. Be like people that have died and now live. Offer the parts of your body to God to be used for doing good.
Surely you know that when you give yourselves like slaves to obey someone, then you are really slaves of that person. The person you obey is your master. You can follow sin, or obey God. Sin brings spiritual death. But obeying God makes you right with him.
I explain this by using an example that people know. I explain it this way because it is hard for you to understand. In the past you offered the parts of your body to be slaves to sin and evil. You lived only for evil. In the same way now you must give yourselves to be slaves of goodness. Then you will live only for God.
God waited with patience so that he could make known his rich glory. God wanted to give that glory to the people that receive his mercy. God has prepared these people to have his glory.
I beg you brothers and sisters in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. I beg that all of you agree with each other, so that there will be no divisions among you. I beg that you be completely joined together by having the same kind of thinking and the same purpose.
I am Paul, and I am begging you. I beg you with the gentleness and the kindness of Christ. \{Some people say that\} I am humble when I am with you, and brave when I am away.
We are workers together with God. So we beg you: Don’t let the grace (kindness) that you received from God be for nothing.
I am in prison because I belong to the Lord. And God chose you to be his people. I tell you now to live the way God’s people should live.
Why? Because you are different from other people. You are the Lord’s special people. From all the people in the world, the Lord your God chose you to be his own special people.
The thing I want and hope for is that I will not fail Christ in anything. I hope that I will have the courage now, like always, to show the greatness of Christ in my life here on earth. I want to do that if I die or if I live.
Your faith makes you give your lives as a sacrifice {\cf2\super [13]} in serving God. Maybe I will have to offer my own blood (death) with your sacrifice. But if that happens, I will be happy and full of joy with all of you.
I have all the things I need. I have even more than I need. I have all I need because Epaphroditus brought your gift to me. Your gift is like a sweet-smelling sacrifice {\cf2\super [24]} offered to God. God accepts that sacrifice and it pleases him.
Brothers and sisters, now I have some other things to tell you. We taught you how to live in a way that will please God. And you are living that way. Now we ask you and encourage you in the Lord Jesus to live that way more and more.
And truly you do love the brothers and sisters in all of Macedonia. Brothers and sisters, now we encourage you to love them more and more.
Now brothers and sisters, we ask you to respect those people who work hard with you—those who lead you in the Lord and teach you.
But if a widow has children or grandchildren, the first thing they need to learn is this: to show respect for their own family \{by helping their parents\}. When they do this, they will be repaying their parents or grandparents. That pleases God.
My brothers and sisters, I beg you to listen patiently to these things I have said. I said these things to strengthen you. And this letter is not very long.
But if you are punished for doing wrong, there is no reason to praise you for bearing that punishment. But if you suffer for doing good, and you are patient, then that pleases God.
You also are like living stones. God is using you to build a spiritual temple. {\cf2\super [14]} You are to serve God in that temple as holy {\cf2\super [15]} priests. You are to give spiritual sacrifices {\cf2\super [16]} to God that he will accept because of Jesus Christ.