Give Your Lives to God

12 So I beg you, brothers and sisters, because of the great mercy God has shown us, offer your lives^[a] as a living sacrifice to him—an offering that is only for God and pleasing to him. Considering what he has done, it is only right that you should worship him in this way. ² Don’t change yourselves to be like the people of this world, but let God change you inside with a new way of thinking. Then you will be able to understand and accept what God wants for you. You will be able to know what is good and pleasing to him and what is perfect.

³ God has given me a special gift, and that is why I have something to say to each one of you. Don’t think that you are better than you really are. You must see yourself just as you are. Decide what you are by the faith God has given each of us. ⁴ Each one of us has one body, and that body has many parts. These parts don’t all do the same thing. ⁵ In the same way, we are many people, but in Christ we are all one body. We are the parts of that body, and each part belongs to all the others.

⁶ We all have different gifts. Each gift came because of the grace God gave us. Whoever has the gift of prophecy should use that gift in a way that fits the kind of faith they have. ⁷ Whoever has the gift of serving should serve. Whoever has the gift of teaching should teach. ⁸ Whoever has the gift of comforting others should do that. Whoever has the gift of giving to help others should give generously. Whoever has the gift of leading should work hard at it. Whoever has the gift of showing kindness to others should do it gladly.

⁹ Your love must be real. Hate what is evil. Do only what is good. ¹⁰ Love each other in a way that makes you feel close like brothers and sisters. And give each other more honor than you give yourself. ¹¹ As you serve the Lord, work hard and don’t be lazy. Be excited about serving him! ¹² Be happy because of the hope you have. Be patient when you have troubles. Pray all the time. ¹³ Share with God’s people who need help. Look for people who need help and welcome them into your homes.

¹⁴ Wish only good for those who treat you badly. Ask God to bless them, not curse them. ¹⁵ When others are happy, you should be happy with them. And when others are sad, you should be sad too. ¹⁶ Live together in peace with each other. Don’t be proud, but be willing to be friends with people who are not important to others. Don’t think of yourself as smarter than everyone else.

¹⁷ If someone does you wrong, don’t try to pay them back by hurting them. Try to do what everyone thinks is right. ¹⁸ Do the best you can to live in peace with everyone. ¹⁹ My friends, don’t try to punish anyone who does wrong to you. Wait for God to punish them with his anger. In the Scriptures the Lord says,

²⁰ But you should do this:

²¹ Don’t let evil defeat you, but defeat evil by doing good.

Obey Your Government Rulers

13 All of you must obey the government rulers. Everyone who rules was given the power to rule by God. And all those who rule now were given that power by God. ² So anyone who is against the government is really against something God has commanded. Those who are against the government bring punishment on themselves. ³ People who do right don’t have to fear the rulers. But those who do wrong must fear them. Do you want to be free from fearing them? Then do only what is right, and they will praise you.

⁴ Rulers are God’s servants to help you. But if you do wrong, you have reason to be afraid. They have the power to punish, and they will use it. They are God’s servants to punish those who do wrong. ⁵ So you must obey the government, not just because you might be punished, but because you know it is the right thing to do.

⁶ And this is why you pay taxes too. Those rulers are working for God, and they give all their time to the work of ruling. ⁷ Give everyone what you owe them. If you owe them any kind of tax, then pay it. Show respect to those you should respect. And show honor to those you should honor.

Loving Others Is the Only Law

⁸ You should owe nothing to anyone, except that you will always owe love to each other. The person who loves others has done all that the law commands. ⁹ The law says, “You must not commit adultery, you must not murder anyone, you must not steal, you must not want what belongs to someone else.”^[c] All these commands and all other commands are really only one rule: “Love your neighbor^[d] the same as you love yourself.”^{[e] 10} Love doesn’t hurt others. So loving is the same as obeying all the law.

¹¹ I say this because you know that we live in an important time. Yes, it is now time for you to wake up from your sleep. Our salvation is nearer now than when we first believed. ¹² The night is almost finished. The day is almost here. So we should stop doing whatever belongs to darkness. We should prepare ourselves to fight evil with the weapons that belong to the light. ¹³ We should live in a right way, like people who belong to the day. We should not have wild parties or be drunk. We should not be involved in sexual sin or any kind of immoral behavior. We should not cause arguments and trouble or be jealous. ¹⁴ But be like the Lord Jesus Christ, so that when people see what you do, they will see Christ. Don’t think about how to satisfy the desires of your sinful self.