Romans 12.1-8
"Paul is addressing Roman Christians as people who have been released from the captivity to Sin by God’s action in Jesus Christ. Having been set free from this oppression, Paul empowers them to act, to respond, to do something. Present yourselves to God.
And it all hinges on the therefore.
Any time we encounter a therefore, whether in scripture or in life, we need to know what the therefore is there for. The word signals that what comes next depends on what came before.
Everything that has come before the therefore has been about God’s doing. God gets all the good verbs. Despite our culture’s constant emphasis on making our own destinies or picking ourselves up by our own bootstraps, Romans (and all of scripture for that matter) proclaims quite the opposite..."
