Romans 12:1-2 (NIV)

Romans 12:1-2 (NIV)
1 Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God's mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God--this is your spiritual act of worship.
2 Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God's will is--his good, pleasing and perfect will.

We must ask what the word "Therefore" is there for at the beginning of chapter 12. Some say it only goes back to chapter 11 where Paul says we are all bound up to His mercy. There are others that say it goes back to the whole discourse on the Gentiles being let in and the Israelites being laid off to the side, which is found in Romans 9-11. I am one who says the "Therefore" goes all the way back to Romans chapter 1 and the whole theme of the book of Romans which is Romans 1:16-17. The Gospel is the power of God unto salvation to any who believe. God's mercy, in its fullest way, has been revealed in this Good News about Jesus Christ. Paul has been teaching about all the ramifications of this Gospel since he stated those verses. Now he is bringing it home. In light of all of what God has done for us in His mercy we have only one response and that is to become a living sacrifice. This is our spiritual act of worship. It is worship seven days a week. We are to have a moment-to-moment relationship with our God. If we place ourselves upon Jesus Christ in this way we must no longer conform to the ways of the world. The transformation that takes place is what happens in our minds. Our minds, the way we think, must change by the grace of God. It is then that we are able to taste the sweetness of the will of God. Could you, would you, place yourself upon the altar once again and let God be God in your life? What do you need to get a grip on and of what do you need to let go? Let us look at Romans 12:1-2 in The Message.

Romans 12:1-2 (MSG)
1 So here's what I want you to do, God helping you: Take your everyday, ordinary life—your sleeping, eating, going-to-work, and walking-around life—and place it before God as an offering. Embracing what God does for you is the best thing you can do for him.
2 Don't become so well-adjusted to your culture that you fit into it without even thinking. Instead, fix your attention on God. You'll be changed from the inside out. Readily recognize what he wants from you, and quickly respond to it. Unlike the culture around you, always dragging you down to its level of immaturity, God brings the best out of you, develops well-formed maturity in you.