Romans 12:1-21
When Paul wrote to the Christians in Rome, he was very thorough! In his letter as we read it now, Paul spends 11 chapters focusing on how our perspective of a downward spiral of life changes when we follow Jesus. We are saved from hopelessness through faith in Jesus, not by our own achievements, and we’re enabled to know how to live in right ways. One author has described Romans as being like dynamite, and adds, “…don’t read it unless you’re ready for your life to be changed” (J. Brant, Downloading the Bible, NT).
Then we get to chapter 12 where Paul sets all that he’s said so far into the most incredible way of belonging that we can know. We are the “Body of Christ” – church. How do we need to reboot our thinking so that we are fully belonging as church in the way that Paul had in mind?