Romans 12:1-5

"I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service.
And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.
For I say, through the grace given unto me, to every man that is among you, not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think; but to think soberly, according as God hath dealt to every man the measure of faith.
For as we have many members in one body, and all members have not the same office:
So we, being many, are one body in Christ, and every one members one of another."
Romans 12:1-5


I like the conformed-transformed comparison. :)  instead of being changed to be smaller than you are... limited possibilities, etc... be changed to be bigger than you think you are... *more* possibilities... but back to the beginning.  I like the first verse because it talks about a living sacrifice... like *living* for something, rather than dying for it.  I think it usually takes a lot more effort to live for what you believe.  and as I think we have talked about before... this "reasonable service" that God asks really IS reasonable.  He knows what we can do, and he gives us the power to do it.  I like the renewing of your mind part too... sometimes we pack so much trash into our minds that we need some renewing... or sometimes we need some renewing just because our minds get darkened and we can't see the light clearly.  but when our minds are renewed, we can see God's light clearly and there is no question what God's will is...
And then, humility again... we shouldn't ever think that we are the queen (or king) and that everyone else is around to do our bidding. :)  God has given us all different levels of faith... different gifts... and we NEED each other, in order to build our faith, share our gifts... and learn more talents.  We might be the queen of something... but in other areas, we are just little peons, and we need someone else to help us get closer to acceptable. :)  We should never assume, just because we have so much to teach, that we have nothing to learn.  Everyone has something that we need... and we have something that other people need.  We build Zion together, and we succeed or fail as a nation and as a community together.  No-one is going to be saved alone... we work out our own salvation, but that effort involves other people... and nothing that we do affects only ourselves, though sometimes it would be nice to think so.  God says, if ye are not one, ye are not mine... we all have to do our part, but it's our part as members of a team... a family, a community, a friendship... a nation, a church... a Zion people.  And just as every group needs members who all contribute, we have to be whole and strong people in order to build whole and strong communities.  the whole is greater than the sum of the parts.