The Competition in the Mind

Every single day, we face a competition. Not on a playing field. Not at the office. Not against anybody else. The competition is in our own minds. And the contest is between two different kinds of knowledge -- what our five senses are telling us, and what God's Word says.

Now, we all need natural knowledge. How to drive a car. How to cook spinach pie. How to do your job. We live in a body-soul world, and natural knowledge is part of that. 

But for us as born-again believers -- children of God, ambassadors for Christ -- the standard we're supposed to live by is spiritual knowledge. God’s Word.

That's the competition (natural vs spiritual). And today we're going to look at what God says… about those two things… and how to win the competition in life. 

God Laid It Out Simply

Let's start in Deuteronomy chapter 30. God is talking to Israel here, but look at the clarity of what He says, and what we can learn.

Deuteronomy 30:15 -- See, I have set before thee this day life and good, and death and evil.

Deuteronomy 30:19 -- I call heaven and earth to record this day against you, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing: therefore choose life, that both thou and thy seed may live.

He lays out the options -- life or death, blessing or cursing -- and then He gives you the answer. Choose life. That's it.

The Word is our standard. Our playbook. In football, your team runs plays. And the Word is filled with what play to run. In any situation. And God is NOT trying to hide the ball from us. 

He's saying: here's what I've set before you. Here's the right choice. Now walk in it.

Natural knowledge -- going by what I see, what I feel, what the world is telling me -- that pulls me one direction. Spiritual knowledge, the Word, that pulls me in the other. And where that tension plays out is right between your ears. The competition in life is in the mind. 

Two Trees

Let’s turn to Jeremiah 17.

Jeremiah 17 gives us one of the most vivid pictures in all of scripture about what's going on in this “mind” competition. Look at Jeremiah 17, verses 5 through 8.

Jeremiah 17:5-6: Thus saith the LORD; Cursed be the man that trusteth in man, and maketh flesh his arm, and whose heart departeth from the LORD: for he shall be like the heath in the desert, and shall not see when good cometh; but shall inhabit the parched places in the wilderness, in a salt land and not inhabited.

Jeremiah 17:7-8 -- Blessed is the man that trusteth in the LORD, and whose hope the LORD is. For he shall be as a tree planted by the waters, and that spreadeth out her roots by the river, and shall not see when heat cometh, but her leaf shall be green; and shall not be careful (that’s “don’t be anxious”) in the year of drought, neither shall cease from yielding fruit.

So, two trees. Two very different outcomes.

The first man trusts his own arm. He's living by what he can see, what he can feel, what he cando, what he can figure out on his own. And the picture is a scraggly bush out in the desert -- not seeing when good comes, planted in parched ground, in a salt land. That's not the life anybody wants.

The second person trusts the Lord. She's living by spiritual knowledge -- by what God says. And the picture is a tree planted right by the river. Roots spreading deep into the water. Leaves green even in drought. And yielding fruit when everybody else has dried up.

That second tree? That's what “walking by the Word” or “doing the Word” looks like. Not anxious. No fear. That tree… that tree… is NOT moved by the drought around it. Because it's connected to something that doesn't run dry.

Please turn to Romans 8.

Romans 8: Life and Peace

Romans chapter 8. This is a church epistle -- written to us, for us, in the Grace Administration. Let's start at verse 1. 

Romans 8:1-2 -- There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit. For the law of the spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death.

Right out of the gate -- no condemnation. None. Why? Because the spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set us free.

Then look at verses 5 and 6. 

Romans 8:5-6 -- For they that are after the flesh do mind the things of the flesh; but they that are after the Spirit, the things of the Spirit. For to be carnally minded is death; but to be spiritually minded is life and peace.

Carnally minded -- walking by the five senses, by natural knowledge -- that leads to death. Spiritually minded -- walking by God's Word -- that's life and peace.

Sound familiar? That's the same choice God laid out in Deuteronomy 30. Life or death. Blessing or cursing. Choose life. 

The message is consistent from Moses to Paul, because it's all God-breathed and it all fits together.

And here's the thing about peace. Peace isn't the absence of hard times in your life. It's what you have… in any situation… when you're rooted in the Word, even while hard circumstances are happening. That's the tree in Jeremiah 17 -- not careful (we’re not worrying) even “in the year of drought.”

The Competition Is Always Present

Please turn to Galatians chapter 5.

Let’s read Galatians 5:16-17 -- This I say then, Walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfil the lust of the flesh. For the flesh lusteth against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh: and these are contrary the one to the other.

These two can be contrary to one other. They can pull us in opposite directions.

And the competition… this pulling… doesn't just go away. The flesh is always going to have an opinion. Your senses are always going to report back to you what they see, hear, or feel. Doubt, worry, fear -- they're always knocking on the door. They want to come in. Knock, knock.

What matters is… whether we’re going to open the door or not. Whether we're actively choosing to walk by the Word or whether we’re just going along with whatever our senses are telling us.

Walking in the spirit is a decision. We make that decision every day. Today. And then the next day. And the day after that. That's what it means to “do the Word,” not just hear it.

Two Kinds of Wisdom

Please turn to James chapter 3. Our last verse. 

Let’s read James 3:15 -- “This wisdom [the 5 senses stuff from the world] descendeth NOT from above, but is earthly, sensual, devilish.”

The wisdom of this world -- the stuff that comes from living purely by natural knowledge, by what you can see, hear, feel and measure -- it isn't from God. It's finite. It's limited. And often unreliable.

But then look at verse 17. 

James 3:17 -- But the wisdom that is from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, and easy to be entreated, full of mercy and good fruits, without partiality, and without hypocrisy.

The Word from above is pure. Peaceable. Full of good fruit. No partiality, no hidden agenda. 

And it's the same for everybody who opens the Word, reads it, studies it, and works on it.

That's what we get. We get to build our lives on a standard. Not the noise of this world, but the spiritual truths from God, which is infinite, unlimited, and reliable.

The Word Works

Here's what we've learned today.

There is a real competition happening in our minds. It's between natural knowledge (what our 5 senses tell us) and spiritual knowledge. 

That competition is always present, and it always has real results.

But God made it simple. Deuteronomy 30 says choose life. Jeremiah 17 shows you two trees -- one in the desert, one by the river. 

Romans 8 says to be spiritually-minded is life and peace. 

Galatians 5 says walk in the spirit. 

James 3 says the wisdom from above is full of good fruit.

The Word is NOT complicated. God isn't withholding the playbooks. The answers to life are right there. 

And the instruction is clear. Trust His Word over your senses. Walk by the spirit. Root yourself in what God says about who you are, what you have, and what you can do with it.

The Word works. When we walk by it -- when we do it, not just hear it -- we win the competition in life.

Let’s do the Word today.

Amen? 

You’re God’s best.