Justice is God's will for all,
Do the right thing is his call.
All the world's God's holy hill
Faithful worship is his will.

Rightness comes from Jesus' word
This we have in Christ our Lord.
Dedicate your life to him
Working out God's holy scheme.

Sacrifice and offering
Praises to our Lord we bring.
These our Lord calls to our mind
And our lives to him we bind.

Let all praise our God, who shows us his love.
Creation he made that we might have life.
The earth with its fruitfulness he made for us;
His coming in Jesus his graciousness proves.

Let all praise our God, his Spirit he gives;
Enlightening our minds that we may know him.
His word he has given our lives to direct;
Such wisdom and power we dare not reject.

Let all praise our God, the Father and Son
The Spirit is there, the great three in one.
Our lives let us offer, his graciousness prove
By building his kingdom of justice and love.

These convoluted legal/theological arguments of Paul are more then strange to our way of thinking. They are, on their face value, almost offensive! This is because of our development, over the years, of the concept of the universal love of God for all humanity. However we need to face up to the realisation that God is also just. These words of Paul are his attempt to reconcile, to an essentially Gentile audience, the demands of God's justice with the depth of God's mercy. These are not easy matters to hold in any kind of balance in the mind. We do well to heed Paul's ideas and work out our own understanding with all humility.

(My nature is made of a complex of interests. Some coincide with what is widely regarded as acceptable, others do not. It is important for us, each one, to recognise honestly that there are many facets to our identity. This is clearly known and understood by our Saviour. He wants us to come to him honestly. As John reminds us "if we are honest to confess our sins, he is faithful to forgive us". Thus we need to develop our own right motivation, the service of Jesus, for our actions.)
 
In the world people come looking to Jesus to find help in their spiritual need. We, who are Christian, have to be careful in that we offer a well-rounded Jesus to those who come to us. We need to be aware of the broad nature of Jesus' life, especially by implication, of the period before his ministry. Exposed to, and experiencing, all the joys and frustrations that a self-employed, jobbing carpenter/joiner would know in the 'real world'.
A romanticised 'plaster-saint' won't do!