The Lord Is My Shepherd – Part 9
October 31, 2021
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Moby Dick

Competing Commitment

A competing commitment is a hidden commitment that competes with a desire.

  • The stated desire is what we think is our true commitment.
  • However, the competing commitment is what actually drives our behavior.
  • The result is frustration and confusion.
  • I truly desire to [fill in the blank] and yet I keep doing [fill in the blank]. Why?

 

Review of the Parable of the Sower

  • The parable of the Sower is really about how God us.
  • A shepherd’s job is to lead and feed. God does both with His .

 

Four Kinds of Soil/Four Kinds of Listeners

  • Wayside (Level 1)
  • Stony (Level 2)
  • Thorny (Level 3)
  • Good (Level 4)

 

The Level 3 Listener

  • The Level 3 listener (Thorny Soil):
  • Matthew 13:22
    • Anxiety is a sign that there is something fractured in our relationship with God.
    • Many people treat money as a substitute for .
    • Be careful when you can for what you used to for.
    • Your is not yours. (As in, “I’m following purpose”)
    • Your is yours in that it has been assigned to you, but not because you own it.
    • People pursue their own plans erroneously thinking they are following the .(Proverbs 19:21; Proverbs 16:25)

 

Competing Commitments Are a Form of Double-Mindedness

James 1:5–8

  • What you think is an isolated matter is a systematic breakdown in your relationship with God.

 

The Competing Commitment Remedy

Philippians 4:6–7 

  • Substitute worry with .
  • When you stop worrying, you will be able to pray with of thought and purity of heart. (James 4:1–3)
  • Submitting our cares to the Lord in prayer is a source of peace and a sign that our relationship with God is whole.
  • Giving full expression to our need for God is a sign of spiritual , not despair.

Philippians 4:8

  • The remedy for anxiety is prayer and Scriptural meditation.
  • What does scriptural meditation look like?
  • Reading, Talking, Listening, Pondering, Reflecting Day and Night
  • God leads us as we meditate on the Word.

Matthew 6:25–34

  • Fear is -oriented.
  • Fear imagines a future in which God is not
  • Faith is -oriented.
  • Faith sees who God is and knows that God is than how things are.

 

© Joshua D. Smith, Ph.D., 2021

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