In this passage Paul gives us the key to understanding how we can know God’s will. First, we offer our physical bodies as a living sacrifice. This is what it means to surrender our lives to God. It is how we take up our cross and follow Jesus. It is our true and proper worship.
The second thing is to stop conforming to the world. It is our basic human nature to live according to how we have been conditioned from our culture. All of us followed the cravings of our flesh until Christ offers us a different way to live.
The third thing we need to know is that following Jesus requires that our minds be transformed from the world’s way of thinking to God’s way. Scripture is the primary way we do that. His Word is the way He changes our mindset from earthly thoughts to godly reasoning. When God’s perspective becomes our way of viewing our circumstances we also find our lives anchored in His eternal hope.