Romans 12:1 So brothers and sisters, since God has shown us great mercy, I beg you to offer your lives as a living sacrifice to him.... 2 Do not change yourselves to be like the people of this world, but be changed within by a new way of thinking. Then you will be able to decide what God wants for you; you will know what is good and pleasing to him and what is perfect.

mike and i are taking a Bible study class at our church. it is awesome. we were talking about the flesh, this temporary "house" we live in and what trouble it causes us. we stumble all the time because of our selfish nature, our desires to have things not good for us, our longing to be loved and noticed and appreciated. how difficult it is to set our "selves" aside and see the bigger picture and to see others! now that Jesus has come and died for our sins, the only thing we have left to offer God is our lives. we can live in worship to Him, we can live giving to others, we can live every day to fall more in love with the God of the universe. or... we can live for our "selves." Jesus called us to a higher standard. a standard no one can really, actually live up to (except Him of course), but the point is that we should live our lives trying.