Latest / Beliefs, Ballots, And BullDawgs / Friday July 24, 2026
Transcript
- Greg: Hey, what's up, everybody? It is Friday, July 24th. I'm your host, Greg Miller, and this is the latest episode of Beliefs, Ballots, and Bulldogs. As we ⁓ as we roll into this weekend, I want us to think about something, and and it's ⁓ it's kind of a deep thought, but I think it's a it's a good time to roll this out. And it's you know, have we completely misunderstood happiness? Think about it for a little bit. What if what we've all been taught about happiness is is wrong? ⁓ I mean, think about the messages we hear every single day from people. If I can just make a little bit more money, if I can finally get that promotion, if my team can win the championship, or if we can just elect the right people, if I can retire, if I can buy that dream house, if I can lose twenty pounds, if I can finally take that dream vacation, I can get that, then then I'll be happy. Our entire culture is built on convincing us that happiness is always one purchase away or one thing away from you, one election, one accomplishment, one magical relationship, or just one wonderful season of life. That's what you need to be happy. And you're just one one one away. It's the next one that's going to make you happy. But here's what I can't help but notice, and it is we are we are living in the absolute. wealthiest, most comfortable, most technologically advanced society in human history, we have access to everything we could possibly have ever imagined. People from hundreds of years ago would would not be able to to even comprehend the the blessings we have these days. And yet anxiety is climbing, depression is climbing, loneliness is climbing, anger is absolutely climbing. People are pissed off everywhere for no reason. So maybe Just maybe we've all been chasing the wrong thing. Now don't misunderstand me here. I have I have shared with here, I'm I'm as patriotic as they come. I absolutely love this country. ⁓ being born in America is obviously one of the greatest blessings anyone could ever wish for. ⁓ and we have absolutely, we are offered opportunities that nobody else in the world or nobody else ever in this world has had. We have the freedom to build, the freedom to create, to work, to provide for our family. We have the freedom to dream. And those are absolutely incredible blessings. But somehow, ⁓ somewhere along the way, the the pursuit of opportunity became the pursuit of happiness. And then I think the pursuit of happiness became the expectation of happiness. And it's like we've almost convinced ourselves that that if we're not happy all the time, something must be wrong, something must be broken. Maybe it's our marriage, maybe it's our job, maybe it's our church, maybe it's just the country. Or maybe it's God. You know, but what if God never promised happiness, especially not constant happiness? What if God offers you something much, much deeper? Let's let's see what God has to say about this. Don't take my word for it. If you listen to the words from Psalm chapter 73, verses 25 and 26, Whom have I in heaven but you? And there is nothing on earth that I desire besides you. My flesh and my heart may fail. But God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever. Psalms are all of the Psalms are beautiful poetic words. And this is this is no different. These are these are just beautiful words, but but here's what makes them so remarkable. Asaph didn't write these words at during the best times of his life or on the best day of his life. In fact, earlier in this passage, he he admits something that I think most of us have have probably thought at one time or another. He's He's looking around at at all of the people in in society that had ignored God. And he honestly looked at it and thought, hey, they're they're kind of getting a better deal. They they had money, they had influence, they had comfort, they had success. Their lives looked easier than his. Does that sound familiar to anybody? ⁓ I mean, open Instagram, scroll through Facebook, watch a celebrity interview. Look at the the wealth, look at the mansions, the boats, the vacations, the The multi-million dollar contracts, the perfect family pictures we see of all these people online. And it's it's easy to start asking, you know, God, what why does it seem like everyone else is happier than the people that are trying to follow you? ASAF asked the same question thousands of years ago, but then something changed. He he entered the presence of God. His circumstances didn't change, his finances didn't change, the culture around him didn't change. His perspective is what changed. He realized that he had been counting temporary blessings and comparing them to an eternal relationship. And that's why he finally got to the point where he could finally say, There is nothing on earth that I desire besides you. Think about it. There's nothing on this earth that we desire more than our relationship with God. That should be how we're wired internally. It's it sounds like an astonishing statement. It not because houses are bad or because vacations are bad or because any type of financial or or or worldly success is bad. In and of themselves, none of these things are bad, and it's not wrong to pursue them. But none of those things were ever designed to to carry the weight of your soul. Think about the back in the old testament, think about Solomon. You know, if if anyone in in the history of the world was was qualified to tell us, you know, what would create happiness, it would be Solomon. Imagine. You know, Solomon was the was the old testament version of Elon Musk. I mean, imagine having, you know, unlimited money, unlimited power and influence, unlimited opportunity to to go do anything you wanted to do. He chased knowledge, he chased pleasure, he chased power, and he chased achievement, he chased all the luxury possible and relationships and building projects and entertainment. Solomon, Solomon It literally goes down as one of the wealthiest people ever, probably the wealthiest person ever. If happiness could have been found in in earthly success, Solomon would have found it. But instead, after after reaching the absolute pinnacle of success and and heights that most of us would not even be able to imagine, he looked back and and Solomon described it all as chasing after the wind. Have you ever tried to catch the wind? Not gonna happen. You can't catch it. That's and that's the whole point Solomon's trying to make. The next achievement feels absolutely incredible for about five minutes. And then we have to start chasing the next one. And and I think we we have continued to mistake that temporary excitement for lasting joy and we keep chasing it and then coming up empty. And then ultimately, you know, Jesus Jesus changes the entire conversation on ⁓ the Sermon of the Mount, one of the most famous and most powerful sermons in in in all of history. And he doesn't describe that the happiest people in the world the way we would these days. He doesn't say, Blessed are the wealthy, or blessed are the famous, blessed are the powerful, blessed are those who continue to get their way despite sin. Instead, he says, Blessed are the poor in spirit, blessed are those who mourn, blessed are the meek, blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness. That seems upside down. ⁓ Don't mistake this, Jesus is not telling us that suffering is supposed to be enjoyable, but he is telling us that that blessedness isn't determined by your circumstances. Blessedness is determined by your relationship with God. I think we need to break this down, and I think part of it is maybe we've confused a couple of different words that are that are synonyms, but they're not identical. And that's happiness and joy. Happiness often depends on what's gonna happen. Joy depends on who you are in your relationship with God. Happiness can can rise and fall with the stock market. Joy doesn't. Happiness depends on election results. Joy doesn't. Happiness depends on football scores. And let's not kid ourselves. Football's right around the corner. Y'all see this hat, y'all know where my passions lie. I will be glued to the TV every Saturday in the fall, and I will live and die with every snap of Georgia football. I will be happy a lot more than I am sad at the end of these Saturdays because we are a darn good football team and we're gonna win a lot of games this year. But that happiness every Saturday night isn't joy. Happiness depends on whether life goes according to your plan. Joy remains constant and permanent even when life doesn't go according to plan. And that's why I think Paul and Silas could could sing in prison. That it's it's not because prison was pleasant, clearly it's not. But it's because in in their heart, no matter what the circumstances were, Christ was still enough. Joy isn't asking you to pretend that every situation is okay. It's not asking you to ignore bad things and pretend like they're not bad. Joy is simply believing that God is still good, even when things around you aren't. So let me let me ask you something. If if everything you've been chasing and pursuing showed up tomorrow, would it satisfy you? If so, how long would you be satisfied with it? Would you immediately begin chasing something else? Because that tends to be what we do. That's the pattern we have all created. As soon as we cross the finish line, we move the finish line. It it becomes the next paycheck, the next promotion, the next vacation, the next championship. Come on, let's get this one. The next relationship, the next milestone, and frankly, if we're honest and myself included, we're all exhausted and it's It's not because we fail, sometimes it's just because we keep asking temporary success to give us eternal happiness. And it's just not going to work. Only God can fulfill that eternal longing. You know, the the gospel isn't God's promise to make your life comfortable. In fact, it's just the opposite. The gospel is God's promise to make you his, no matter how comfortable things are. Jesus didn't die so we could all become temporarily happy. He he died so we could be eternally reconciled to God. And when Christ becomes your greatest treasure, everything else will tend to fall into its proper place. You can you can absolutely enjoy success without ever having to worship it. You can enjoy money without being linked to it and chained to it and serving it. You can enjoy football, and we will, without depending without depending on it. You can enjoy your family without expecting them to become your ultimate source of fulfillment. Ultimately, your soul is only looking for one thing. And that can only be found in him. So here's the question we want to take into the weekend. And it's what have you been chasing? What have you been pursuing? What have you been expecting to make you happy that was never meant to carry that responsibility? Maybe it's money, maybe it's politics, maybe it's you know personal or professional success, maybe it's retirement, maybe football season makes you happy. Maybe it's someone else's approval that you've been seeking. And none of those things are wrong in and of themselves. They're just not ever gonna be enough. The world's gonna keep whispering just a little bit more, while Jesus quietly will tell you, I'm all you need. Have a wonderful weekend, guys. Love your family, enjoy God's blessings, laugh, rest, cheer for your team and work hard. Dream big. There's nothing wrong with pursuing the goals. We just need to know that ultimately what that that hole in your heart and that longing that you're trying to fill can only come from God. All right, guys, that'll do it for today. Have a great weekend. God bless y'all. And as always, get in your Bible, say your prayers, love one another, and tell the truth. God bless.