Romans 12 starts with “I beseech you therefore”! The word “beseech” means to plead or to beg. But it is the word “therefore” that catches my attention. This word has an arrow attached to it and the arrow is always pointing backwards. Paul is about to plead for his readers to do something but not before reminding them that his motivation has to do with what he has been writing about for the last 11 chapters. As such he is holding to a pattern you will see him do continually in his letters and that is to place the believers “position” before their “practice”, thereby emphasizing “doctrine” before “duty”.
For those 11 chapters Paul has been emphasizing what God has done through grace in sending His son Jesus to die in our stead “therefore” he is pleading with believers to respond. It is as if Paul is saying: “Because God is rich and wise, great and glorious, a God of love and mercy; while we are ignorant of the future, forgetful of the past and unable to control the present,” present your bodies as living sacrifices. Based upon the vast number of books and the questions I’ve gotten over the years, one of the most asked questions in the Christian life is: “How can I know God’s will for my life”.
The question is based upon a presupposition that God’s will is hidden, lost or hard to determine. But nothing could be further from the truth. God’s will doesn’t have to be found because it’s not lost.