"I will praise the name of the Lord with a song, and will magnify Him with thanksgiving. This also shall please the Lord better than an ox or bullock thathas horns and hoofs." (Psalm 69:30-31) "By Him therefore let us offer the sacrifice of praise to God continually, that is, the fruit of our lips, giving thanks to His name." (Hebrews 13:15)
This thought is taken from Hosea 14, where we are instructed to say, "Take away iniquity, and receive us graciously; so will we render the calves of our lips." (Hosea 14:2)
A better rendering is, "So will we render as calves our lips."
The lexicons show us that the Hebrew words "bullock" and "fruit" are almost identical, having a common origin, and with one underlying idea.
So when we offer the sacrifice of thanksgiving, the fruit of our lips, which is not mere lip-service, but which comes from the heart, we are offering bullocks that are, and have been, more acceptable to God than bullocks with horns and hoofs.
The heathen rightly conceived that a human sacrifice was the highest and best that could be offered; but they were wholly mistaken as to the mode of offering. It is a "living sacrifice," not a dead one, that is acceptable unto God. "I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service." (Romans 12:1)--Present Truth, May 12, 1904--Psalm 69:30-31.