Psalm 103:1

Bless the LORD, O my soul, And all that is within me, bless His holy name.

     The single-minded determination of athletes is absolutely amazing. Especially on the professional or world class level, you know that their whole life is dedicated to the sport. They eat, drink, and sleep their sports. Day after day, week after week, month after month, year after year, they continually dedicate themselves fully to the task in hopes of one day being a champion. Often times it is all they can talk or think about, even in their “relaxation time”. As Christians, it is important that we have their same single-mindedness.

     The Psalmist here writes that he praises the Lord with all of His soul. He goes even further and says that with everything that is in himself he praises God. He then goes on and looks at all the  great things that the Lord has done for him. It is from this that he praises the Lord in such a manner. Consider how the athlete gives everything of himself for His particular sport. David tells us that he does the same thing, although it is for nothing so temporal as a sport, but for the everlasting God.

     We need to follow David’s example. We need to praise the Lord with all of our beings. It should guide us and direct us. All aspects of our lives need to be about glorifying and praising Him. We should do all things in the Lord’s name and for His glory (Col. 3:17). We must keep nothing for ourselves. We cannot be distracted from the task at hand. When we see the great mercy that God has given us and His great power, we should praise Him with all of our heart, mind, soul and body.

Bless the LORD, O my soul, And all that is within me, bless His holy name.