“I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.” Romans 12:1-2

Change is inevitable it seems. All that we know, apart from the Lord and His Word, is changing. And because of sin, these changes tend toward a negative direction. Creation has been dying, decaying and falling apart ever since sin entered in. Science uses this axiom of things moving from order to disorder to explain and understand much of what occurs in nature (i.e. the Second Law of Thermodynamics). Without an external force or energy, stuff breaks down and falls apart. 

God has provided our planet with an external source of energy – the sun – to enable life and growth on this otherwise dying and decaying planet. But the sun itself is in decay. It too will need an external source of energy to prevent it from eventually burning up. Our Lord has already told us that this heaven and earth will pass away and there will be a new heaven and earth when He returns in glory on the Last Day (cf. Revelation 21:1). 

And God has provided you and me with an even greater source of energy – Himself – the source of energy. God came to us as a man and through His death and resurrection gave us access to Himself. He comes to us now through His Word and Sacraments, bringing us life and energy in Him. He sustains us until His return when He will bring us fully into His presence where there is no decay, loss, or disorder. 

Your Baptism joined you to Jesus, the eternal source of power, life, and order. Jesus is the force that transforms you by the renewal of your mind (as Paul states in Romans 12 above). He has overcome your fallen nature which is in decline and conforming to the dying world. Like the laws of nature in this fallen world, our spiritual lives tend to move in a negative direction from godly (ordered according to His perfect Law) toward sinful (disordered and incongruent with God’s Law). Christ is your source of life, renewal and order against the negative forces. In Him, we live and move and have our being (cf. Acts 17:28). 

The appeal in Romans 12 is to let God transform you by presenting your bodies as a living sacrifice to God. You have been made holy and acceptable in Baptism by the blood of Christ. We present ourselves to God sacrificially, allowing Him to take our old decaying nature and give us new life in Christ ordered according to His good, acceptable and perfect will. Christ comes to us in His Word and Sacraments transforming us by the renewing of our mind. We present ourselves to God in fear, love, and trust, repenting and submitting to Jesus. Though the world and your sinful nature work to conform you to disorder, decay and death, Christ transforms you for good.