Romans 12:1-2 "I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God..." So begins Paul's earnest plea. He entreats us by the wondrous mercies of our wondrous God described in the previous chapters of Romans: Justification by faith. (Romans 3:24) Peace with God. (Romans 5:1) Access to God's grace. (Romans 5:2) Hope of glory. (Romans 5:2) God's love poured into our hearts. (Romans 5:5) Christ's substitutionary and sin-atoning death. (Romans 5:8) Union with Christ. (Romans 6:4-5) Freedom from sin's dominion. (Romans 6:14) Freedom from condemnation. (Romans 8:1) The indwelling Holy Spirit. (Romans 8:9) Adoption into God's family. (Romans 8:15) God's control of all things for the good of His people. (Romans 8:28) Effectual calling, justification, and glorification. (Romans 8:30) God's invincible love. (Romans 8:38-39) God's sovereign mercy. (Romans 9:15-16) Paul's entreaty is all-encompassing: "Present your bodies as a living sacrifice." Not merely your thoughts, words, or Sundays--but your whole life. A living sacrifice means continual yielding, moment by moment; not a one time gesture, but a continuous daily surrender. Unlike Old Testament sacrifices, which were slain and offered once, we are called to crawl continually upon the altar--offering our eyes, our hands, our tongues, our feet, our time, our energy, our all. Such surrender is described as "holy and pleasing to God." Astonishingly our imperfect obedience, when offered sincerely in Christ--is pleasing to our Father! This sacrifice is our "reasonable service." It is not extreme or fanatical. To hold anything back from the God who gave His Son to die for our sins, is