Are you planning to watch the 2012 Summer Olympics?  The games begin in just three days.  For some of these athletes, their whole life has led up to the Olympics.  They didn’t just start training a few weeks or months before the Olympics.  This has been a life’s work of training, dedication, and sacrifice.  Each one is going for the gold.  Not a single one of them is heading to England with the hopes of winning a bronze medal.  They all have their eye on the prize…the gold medal. 
Many of these athletes wake up while the rest of the world sleeps to begin their training.  It is top priority in their life and they will sacrifice anything for it, including sleep.  Most of them eat, sleep and drink their sport.  It is their main focus in life.  Every decision they make revolves around their sport.  Take Michael Phelps’ diet for example, he eats what he eats because he swims.  On a side note, do you have any idea what an eight time gold medal winner eats in just one day? This is a typical daily menu for him:
·         Breakfast is his highest caloric meal: 3 fried-egg sandwiches loaded with cheese, lettuce, tomatoes, fried onions and mayonnaise. 1 five-egg omelet. 1 bowl of grits. 3 slices of French toast topped with powdered sugar. 3 chocolate-chip pancakes. 
·         Lunch: 1 pound of enriched pasta. 2 large ham and cheese sandwiches with mayo on white bread.
·         Dinner: 1 pound of pasta with a whole pizza. 
It totals 12,000 calories.  If we ate that way, we would likely die of a heart attack.  He is able to consume that many calories just because of his training schedule.
1 Corinthians 9:25-27 says, “Everyone who competes in the games goes into strict training. They do it to get a crown that will not last; but we do it to get a crown that will last forever. Therefore I do not run like a man running aimlessly; I do not fight like a man beating the air. No, I beat my body and make it my slave so that after I have preached to others, I myself will not be disqualified for the prize.”  The prize Paul is talking about is eternal life with Christ Jesus.  Just as the Olympic athletes pour their entire being into the pursuit of a gold medal, we are to pour our entire lives into the pursuit of Jesus.  The difference is our prize will never fade away.
The Olympians seek one thing and one thing only, the gold medal.  All else fails in comparison.  What about you?  What is the one thing you seek more than anything else?  What are you willing to fight for, dedicate your life to, and sacrifice everything to gain?  Psalm 27:4 says, “One thing I ask of the LORD, this is what I seek: that I may dwell in the house of the LORD all the days of my life, to gaze upon the beauty of the LORD and to seek Him in His temple.”  David, the psalmist, knew his one thing.  What is yours?