Romans 12
So here’s what I
want you to do, God helping you: Take your everyday, ordinary life—your
sleeping, eating, going-to-work, and walking-around life—and place it before
God as an offering. Embracing what God does for you is the best thing you can do
for him. Don’t become so well-adjusted to your culture that you fit into it
without even thinking. Instead, fix your attention on God. You’ll be changed
from the inside out. Readily recognize what he wants from you, and quickly
respond to it. Unlike the culture around you, always dragging you down to its
level of immaturity, God brings the best out of you, develops well-formed
maturity in you.
I
appeal to you therefore, brothers,
by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a
living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. Do not be conformed to
this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by
testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and
acceptable and perfect.
I’m speaking to you out of deep
gratitude for all that God has given me, and especially as I have
responsibilities in relation to you. Living then, as every one of you does, in
pure grace, it’s important that you not misinterpret yourselves as people who
are bringing this goodness to God. No, God brings it all to you. The only
accurate way to understand ourselves is by what God is and by what he does for
us, not by what we are and what we do for him.
For by the grace given to me I say to everyone among you not
to think of himself more highly than he ought to think, but to think with sober
judgment, each according to the measure of faith that God has
assigned.
In this way we are like the various parts of a human body. Each
part gets its meaning from the body as a whole, not the other way around. The
body we’re talking about is Christ’s body of chosen people. Each of us finds
our meaning and function as a part of his body. But as a chopped-off finger or
cut-off toe we wouldn’t amount to much, would we? So since we find ourselves
fashioned into all these excellently formed and marvelously functioning parts
in Christ’s body, let’s just go ahead and be what we were made to be, without
enviously or pridefully comparing ourselves with each other, or trying to be
something we aren’t.
For as in one body we have many members, and the members do
not all have the same function, so we, though many, are one body
in Christ, and individually members one of another.
If you preach, just preach God’s
Message, nothing else; if you help, just help, don’t take over; if you teach,
stick to your teaching; if you give encouraging guidance, be careful that you
don’t get bossy; if you’re put in charge, don’t manipulate; if you’re called to
give aid to people in distress, keep your eyes open and be quick to respond; if
you work with the disadvantaged, don’t let yourself get irritated with them or
depressed by them. Keep a smile on your face.
Having
gifts that differ according to the grace given to us, let us use them:
if prophecy, in proportion to our faith; if service, in our
serving; the one who teaches, in his teaching; the one who exhorts, in his
exhortation; the one who contributes, in generosity; the one who leads,
with zeal; the one who does acts of mercy, with cheerfulness.
Love from the center of who you are;
don’t fake it. Run for dear life from evil; hold on for dear life to good. Be
good friends who love deeply; practice playing second fiddle.
Let love be genuine. Abhor what is evil; hold fast to what is
good. Love
one another with brotherly affection. Outdo one another in showing honor.
Don’t burn out; keep yourselves fueled and aflame. Be alert
servants of the Master, cheerfully expectant. Don’t quit in hard times; pray
all the harder. Help needy Christians; be inventive in hospitality.
Do
not be slothful in zeal, be fervent in spirit, serve the
Lord. Rejoice in hope, be patient in tribulation, be constant in
prayer. Contribute to the needs of the saints and seek to show
hospitality.
Bless your enemies; no cursing under your breath. Laugh with your
happy friends when they’re happy; share tears when they’re down. Get along with
each other; don’t be stuck-up. Make friends with nobodies; don’t be the great
somebody.
Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse them. Rejoice with those who
rejoice, weep with those who weep. Live
in harmony with one another. Do not be haughty, but associate with the
lowly. Never be wise in your own sight.
Don’t hit back; discover beauty in everyone. If you’ve got it in
you, get along with everybody. Don’t insist on getting even; that’s not for you
to do. “I’ll do the judging,” says God. “I’ll take care of it.”
Repay no one evil for evil, but give thought to do what is
honorable in the sight of all. If possible, so far as it depends on
you, live peaceably with all. Beloved, never
avenge yourselves, but leave it to
the wrath of God, for it is written, “Vengeance is mine, I will repay,
says the Lord.”
Our Scriptures tell us that if you
see your enemy hungry, go buy that person lunch, or if he’s thirsty, get him a
drink. Your generosity will surprise him with goodness. Don’t let evil get the
best of you; get the best of evil by doing good.
To
the contrary, “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.” Do
not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.
The
Message and English Standard Version
