We live in a noisy world and there is no end to things clamoring for our attention (Ecclesiastes 1:8). It’s all too easy to become distracted and even caught up in the cares of this world (Mark 4:18-19). Of all the things we concern ourselves with, the one that is most important is what most often gets pushed aside. We consume our thoughts with our temporal and immediate circumstances instead of focusing our attention on the eternal glory of our God.
While we often pray for the Lord to bless us, how often do we bless the Lord? There is nothing worth having more than Jesus, and there is no problem beyond His ability to solve (Jeremiah 32:17). The Lord is the only One worthy of our praise, and the only object deserving of our attention (Revelation 4:11).
We spend hours fretting about bills, our jobs, and our relationships. We worry about our clothes, what we’ll eat, and sometimes even where we’ll sleep (Matthew 6:25-32). Our obsession with what others might think of us borders on the absurd, especially when you realize everyone else is too concerned about what others are thinking about them to have any time for them to think about us!
In contrast, look at what David, a man after God’s own heart, was always thinking about. In Psalm 103:1, he exhorts his soul to bless the Lord, and further calls on all that is within himself to do the same. David writes in Psalm 34 that he will bless the Lord at all times, and says God’s praise will always be on his lips (Psalm 34:1). In Psalm 63, David states he would bless the Lord for as long as he lives (Psalm 63:4). The great psalmist proclaimed that he would bless and praise the name of the Lord forever and ever (Psalm 145:1-2). This man ordered his thoughts in ways we should all aspire to imitate.
I don’t know about you, but I’m a long way from being able to say my entire being is focusing on the Lord every day of my life. But that is how we should all be living. What value is there in us focusing on ourselves for even a moment in time? We’re not worthy of such attention. We are dying and everything we have or desire is perishing along with us (James 4:14; 1 John 2:17). It’s all going away; only Jesus remains forever. Only what we do for Him in this life will survive our death (1 Corinthians 3:12-14).
Satan turns up the noise in our heads, in our hearts, and in our world to distract us from the one thing that matters in life (1 Peter 5:8; John 10:10). That one thing is to bless the Lord by living our lives in a way that glorifies Him every second of every minute of every hour of every day that we breathe. Bless the Lord, oh my soul, and all that is within me. Nothing else matters. Nothing and no one else is worthy of receiving our attention, our devotion, or our praise (Psalm 29:2). Life is nothing without Christ and nothing means anything without Him. Shut down the noise, block out the distractions, and throw away everything that is of this world (Colossians 3:2). Let the Holy Spirit tear it all away until only Jesus remains.