Cup of Salvation
Psalm 116:13 – I will lift up the cup of salvation.
Reading: Psalm 116:12-19
This psalm is the story of how good the LORD has been to the psalmist. The LORD has delivered him from all kinds of trials and tribulations: from his own spiritual struggles to near-death experiences. To this love of God the psalmist responds in verse 12, “What shall I render to the LORD for all his benefits to me?” As we read this today we might say, “That’s how psalmists think and write: they speak of God’s deliverance and their response of gratitude.” But what about us? How do you respond to all the goodness that God has shown you?
Think about this question: what has God done for you? In Philippians 2 we read about “Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself.” In fact he humbled himself even to death on a cross. He did that for you and me. He 
died so that we might live as children of God. Live in the freedom of giving praise and glory to God. When we experience that and feel it in our heart, we will ask along with the psalmist, “What shall I render to the Lord for all his benefits to me?”
The psalmist says “I will lift up the cup of salvation.” This indicates a wine or drink offering that he will pour on the altar while calling on the name of the LORD. In New Testament times we don’t make those kinds of sacrifices anymore. Rather, we are to present our bodies “as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God,” which is our “spiritual worship” (Rom. 12:1). Real thankfulness to God involves your whole life so that whatever you think, say and do is to his praise and glory.
In Philippians 2, where Paul describes what Jesus Christ did for us, he exhorts his readers, “Work out your own salvation with fear and trembling.” Are you thankful for what Jesus Christ has done for you? Do you rejoice that you are a child of God who can spend eternity with God? Show it in your life. Give real, wholehearted thankfulness to God. Have nothing to do with the temptations of Satan, the world, and your own sinful flesh. By God’s grace let your whole life be a fragrant sacrifice of thanksgiving to God.