This year is our year. A common phrase heard in the sports world. Hard work, hours of training and studying to hopefully achieve perfection. Eating the right foods to sustain performance on the field. Lifting weights to increase strength. Getting enough sleep. All in the hopes of having the best year yet.

As competitors, our lives are marked by a voraciously competitive spirit. We want to be the best athlete, the winningest coach or perfect team. We discipline our mind and body to attain the highest level of performance all to feed this insatiable appetite for competition. So we eat the right things and put in hours of training and hard work to try and satisfy our craving for competition.

The same desire for nourishment used in becoming the best competitor is the same desire we should have in nourishing our soul. We hunger and thirst for a "win" but what about our relationship with Jesus Christ? Our soul naturally hungers and thirsts after the Lord, who has "set eternity in the hearts of men” (Ecclesiastes 3:11). But how often do we give it the right nutrition?

So, in our soul-training, do we allow ourselves to snack on God-substitutes or anything other than Jesus as our primary source of meaning, self-worth, comfort or fulfillment? Or do we eagerly seek Him? Let's devour the Word of God and acquire a deepening desire where our soul thirsts and body faints for the Lord. Author and theologian C.S. Lewis said, "We are far too easily pleased." As competitors, we wouldn't eat a diet of unhealthy foods and expect to perform at the highest level. As we nourish our souls, let us satisfy our hunger with the richest of foods -- the Word of God.