Romans 12

1Brothers and sisters in Christ, I beg you, because of the great mercy God has shown us, offer your lives as a living sacrifice to God, 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.

2Do not be like the people of this world, but let God change you with a new way of thinking. Then you will know what the good, pleasing, and perfect will of God is.

3God was very good to me and that is why I am saying to each of you: Do not think you are more important than you really are. You must be wise when you think of yourselves and remember it is God who tells each believer how he must serve Him.

4All of us together are like a human body. A man has one body but his body has many parts and each part is doing something else.

5It is the same with Us. There are many believers, but we all belong to Christ and that is why we are like a body. We all belong to each other.

6God gave each one of us gifts, but God did not give the same gifts to each one of us. If God gave some believers the gift of preaching the messages of God, then they must tell people the right message that we believe.

7If God gave some other believers the gift of serving, then they must help and serve other people. If God gave some believers the gift of teaching other people, then they must teach them about God.

8If God gave some believers the gift of comforting other people, 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.

9Your love must be real. You must hate evil and hold tight to good things.

10Love each other in a way that makes you feel close like brothers and sisters. And give each other more honor than you give yourself.

11As you serve the Lord, work hard and don’t be lazy. Be excited about serving him!

12Be happy because of the hope you have. Be patient when you have troubles. Pray all the time.

13Some of the believers are poor. Help them and take care of them. You must be friendly to strangers.

14When people make you suffer and make trouble for you, ask the Lord to bless them. Don’t ask Him to punish them.

15When other people are happy, be happy with them and rejoice. When they are sad, be sad and cry with them.

16Live together in peace with one another and work together. 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.

17When people do bad things to you, do not try to do bad things to them. You must always do what is right. Try to do what everyone thinks is right.

18Try very hard to live in peace with other people.

19Dear friends, when people make you suffer and do bad things to you, do not try to punish them yourselves. Wait for God to punish them, because it is written in the Old Testament: The Lord said: I am the One who will punish people for what they have done wrong.

20But you should do this: When your enemies are hungry, give them food to eat, and when they are thirsty, give them something to drink. If you do that. In doing this you will make them feel ashamed.

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