For from Him and through Him and to Him are all things. To cap him be the glory forever. Amen.
I urge you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies a living and holy sacrifice, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service of worship. Romans 11:36 – 12:1
Whenever you see the word therefore, you need to investigate and find out what it is there for. It is always a word that is bringing something to a conclusion, or summarizing something that’s just previously been said. When the Holy Spirit through Paul encourages us to present our bodies as a living and holy sacrifice, as our reasonable service of worship, he is saying that in light of what he just said in 11:36. The chapter division here can be confusing and cause us to miss the fullness of what the Holy Spirit is trying to say. Paul is obviously saying that in light of the fact that everything has to find its origin in God and to be accomplished by God and therefore bring glory to God, we should surrender our bodies fully to him as a living (not dying) sacrifice. The moment by moment daily Christian life should be a life that is of him, as he initiates his will in all things; through him, as all things are accomplished by His ability; and to Him (Because all things initiated from him and accomplished by him, bring him glory).
This is what makes the Christian life so potentially glorious, exciting, and fascinating. It is also the great motivation for surrendering our lives fully to the One who lives in us. Just think of it; Jesus Christ, by the Holy Spirit who lives in us, initiating His story through us and manifesting His power in us and through us to accomplish the story he wants to tell through our lives and all that we do bring glory, that is, point to the living Christ, who is living His resurrection life by our humanity. Paul calls it our living sacrifice, but it does not sound like much of a sacrifice to me, trading my story and my weaknesses for His supernatural story and his limitless adequacy to live it.