"Present yourselves to God as those who have been brought from death to life" - to be able to believe in Our God we need to be aware of both the death that we are saved from and the life that God promises. "Death" here refers to our limitations - temporal, physical and spiritual. We are limited by age, space, time and many more; physically we have finite energy and speed; spiritually we do not have the intelligence to decipher who God is in his immensity much less define him comprehensively. Aware of all these limitations we pray for wisdom and enlightenment that leads to life. If Jesus had not made that penultimate surrender in the Garden of Gethsemane, then his ultimate surrender on the Cross and thereafter the unprecedented resurrection would not have happened. In our lives too, such a surrender leads to a miraculous outcome. People who accept a cancerous growth or physical disabilities bear witness to this.

Finally, "present your members to God as instruments of righteousness." In spite of the awareness of our limitation and conscious surrender, we are still "instruments". Instruments are only as good as the one who holds them. But without the instruments, the operation to be performed or the mission to be accomplished is certainly delayed.