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The cup of salvation Class 13******July 7 “What shall I render unto the Lord for all his benefits toward me? I will take the cup of my salvation, and call upon the name of the Lord. I will pay my vows unto the Lord now in the presence of all his people.” Psalms 116:12-14 The cup of salvation is the individual portion or inheritance of God’s children. It is their lot in life. One does not choose one’s cup. Which one of us decided to be born black, or poor, or in this time period? The cup is given to us. Each cup is as different as each individual. Within each cup are things bitter and things sweet. God gives each of us blessings, talents, wisdom and opportunity. The families that we are born into, and that we later have, our abilities to learn and to work, are all a part of our cup. Even our limitations and our health and potential for illness are part of our cup. All of these things are measured unto us by the Father. He knows how much pain and suffering that we can bear, and he sets limits for this as well as the length of our lives, and he determines the things that we must do in order to be saved. The most important part of our cup, or our inheritance, is God. “The Lord is the portion of mine inheritance and of my cup: thou maintainest my lot. The lines are fallen unto me in pleasant places; yea, I have a goodly heritage.” Psalms 16:5-6. The bitter things in our cup are the difficulties that everyone born on this earth must suffer. We must overcome all of the obstacles and hardships found within the cup of salvation in order to be saved. Our cup is given to us, but the choices that we make can make the bitter things in our cup even more difficult. In other words, we can make our lives harder than it has to be when we disobey God and make unwise choices.