“Therefore I exhort you, brothers and sisters, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a sacrifice – alive, holy, and pleasing to God – which is your reasonable service.” Romans 12:1 NET https://bible.com/bible/107/rom.12.1.NET

What does it mean to present ourselves to God alive, holy and pleasing to Him? Alive means ready to take action. Available for service. Useful to his cause. Alive is responsive to stimulus and therefore able to do as God’s Spirit leads, for God works through us to accomplish His purposes by us. So are we alive to God? In His presence, seeking His face earnestly daily, hourly, to serve Him faithfully and continually? When we are not busy with His business, are we still about the business of honoring God before men by living holy lives? Holiness is the character, the very nature of God. Holy is Who He is and who He commands we be. We are holy when we are obedient in all ways in all things to the word of God. We are made holy and prove our holiness through obedience to God, for when we obey God, we demonstrate God’s true nature, character, and ways. At all times, we are to be holy as God is holy. This holiness is to be driven, fueled, and motivated by love for God and joy in His Spirit. We are not religious people who are austere practitioners of law but joyful people who have been set free from prison to serve the living God. We rejoice in what God has done for us in forgiving all of our sins, and we rejoice that He calls us to serve Him when He is so holy, and we are so far from who we should be, yet He loves us, invites us into His presence and into His service and so we rejoice. We are pleasing to God when we are pleased with God, Who He is, what He has done, and being with Him in the world, accomplishing His purposes. This is a good start to considering what God wants from us when He calls us to be alive, holy, and pleasing in His sight.