12
“I Exhort You, Therefore, Brothers and Sisters, in View of God’s Great Mercy”
1 I exhort you, therefore, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s great mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and acceptable in the sight of God+—the kind of priestly duty befitting your new nature.+
2 Don’t let yourselves+ be conformed to the standards of this evil+ age,+ but allow yourselves+ to be transformed through the renewing of your minds,+ so that you may be able to discern what God’s will is, that is, the good and pleasing and blameless+ course he desires.
3 Indeed, I say, by the authority of the gift+ entrusted to me, to every one of you: Don’t have a prideful and self-exalting attitude,+ but have a humble attitude and a sober estimate of yourselves,+ each person according to the amount of faith God has given him.
4 Just as in one body we have many+ parts, you see, and these parts, all of them,+ have different+ functions,+
5 so we, although+ many, are a single+ body in union with the Messiah, and individual parts joined to one another,+
6 having, moreover, according to the enablement graciously entrusted to us,+ different+ gifts. If someone’s gift is prophecy, he should use it with all the faith he has.+
7 If it is serving, then he should serve. If it is teaching, he should teach.
8 If it is encouraging and strengthening others,+ then he should encourage and strengthen. If someone’s gift is sharing, he should do it generously.+ If it is leading, he should lead with diligence. If it is performing acts of mercy and compassion, he should do so cheerfully.
9 As for love, love one another sincerely,+ loathing what is evil, holding fast to what is good;
10 in affection, one another loving like family;+ in showing honor and respect, one another outdoing;+
11 in showing goodwill and concern, not reluctant;+ in spirit,+ fervent;+ to the Lord, rendering total service;+
12 in hope, rejoicing;+ amidst trials and suffering, enduring;+ in prayer, persisting;+
13 toward the needs of the Lord’s holy people +, sharing;+ to fellow believers who are traveling, opening your homes.+
14 Bless those who persecute you; keep blessing and don’t curse.
15 Rejoice with those who are rejoicing, weep with those who are weeping.
16 Have the same+ humble attitude toward one another, relating to each other not with an attitude that is self-exalting and full of pride,+ but lowering yourselves to accommodate those of low status and influence.+ Don’t rely on your own so-called wisdom.+
17 Repay absolutely+ no one evil+ for evil. Take pains to do what is honorable+ in the eyes of all people.
18 If possible, so far as it depends on you, maintain peace with everyone.+
19 Don’t avenge yourselves,+ dear friends, but leave the punishing to God,+ as it is written:
“It is+ to me that vengeance belongs;
I am the one who+ will repay,”+ says the Lord.
20 Instead,
“If ˢyour enemy is hungry, give him something to eat;
if he is thirsty, give him something to drink;
for by+ showing him such+ kindness+ ˢyou will cause his conscience to burn with contrition.+”+
21 Don’t allow yourself+ to be overcome by evil, but overcome evil by doing what is good.