A Living Sacrifice

¹zI appeal to you therefore, brothers,1 by the mercies of God, ato present your bodies bas a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship.2 ²cDo not be conformed to this world,3 but be transformed by dthe renewal of your mind, that by testing you may ediscern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.4

Gifts of Grace

³For fby the grace given to me I say to everyone among you gnot to think of himself more highly than he ought to think, but to think with sober judgment, heach according to ithe measure of faith that God has assigned. ⁴For jas in one body we have many members,5 and the members do not all have the same function, ⁵so we, kthough many, lare one body in Christ, and individually mmembers one of another. ⁶nHaving gifts that differ according to the grace given to us, let us use them: if oprophecy, pin proportion to our faith; ⁷if qservice, in our serving; the one who teaches, in his teaching; ⁸the one who exhorts, in his exhortation; the one who contributes, in generosity; rthe one who leads,6 with zeal; the one who does acts of mercy, with scheerfulness.

Marks of the True Christian

⁹tLet love be genuine. uAbhor what is evil; hold fast to what is good. ¹⁰vLove one another with brotherly affection. wOutdo one another in showing honor. ¹¹Do not be slothful in zeal, xbe fervent in spirit,7 yserve the Lord. ¹²zRejoice in hope, abe patient in tribulation, bbe constant in prayer. ¹³cContribute to the needs of the saints and dseek to show hospitality.

¹⁴eBless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse them. ¹⁵fRejoice with those who rejoice, weep with those who weep. ¹⁶gLive in harmony with one another. hDo not be haughty, but associate with the lowly.8 iNever be wise in your own sight. ¹⁷jRepay no one evil for evil, but kgive thought to do what is honorable in the sight of all. ¹⁸If possible, so far as it depends on you, llive peaceably with all. ¹⁹Beloved, mnever avenge yourselves, but leave it9 to the wrath of God, for it is written, n“Vengeance is mine, I will repay, says the Lord.” ²⁰To the contrary, o“if your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him something to drink; for by so doing you will heap burning coals on his head.” ²¹Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.