Romans 12:1-8
12 And so, dear brothers and sisters, I plead with you to give your bodies to God because of all he has done for you. Let them be a living and holy sacrifice—the kind he will find acceptable. This is truly the way to worship him. 2 Don’t copy the behavior and customs of this world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think. Then you will learn to know God’s will for you, which is good and pleasing and perfect.
3 Because of the privilege and authority God has given me, I give each of you this warning: Don’t think you are better than you really are. Be honest in your evaluation of yourselves, measuring yourselves by the faith God has given us. 4 Just as our bodies have many parts and each part has a special function, 5 so it is with Christ’s body. We are many parts of one body, and we all belong to each other.
6 In his grace, God has given us different gifts for doing certain things well. So if God has given you the ability to prophesy, speak out with as much faith as God has given you. 7 If your gift is serving others, serve them well. If you are a teacher, teach well. 8 If your gift is to encourage others, be encouraging. If it is giving, give generously. If God has given you leadership ability, take the responsibility seriously. And if you have a gift for showing kindness to others, do it gladly.
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Paul now shifts gears and begins by focusing on our bodies. We are called to give God our bodies–I think he is referring our total self–behaviors included. My behaviors are to express a hold sacrifice and this is true worship. He then confirms what I see–I am not to behave or follow the customary behaviors of this culture.
When I get my behaviors lined up according to God’s way, I will then “let” God transform my thinking. I’m reminded of something I heard years ago, that “people will change what they believe in order to fit with their behaviors.” I resisted what the speaker said, but have found over the years it is accurate. Of course, it goes both ways–both positively and negatively. Here Paul is saying it in the positive way–get your behaviors right and your thinking will fall into place