Latest / Beliefs, Ballots, And BullDawgs / August 28, 2026
Transcript
- Greg: Good morning, everybody. It is Friday, August 28th. I'm your host, Greg Miller, and this is the latest episode of Beliefs Ballots and Bulldogs. ⁓ we're gonna wrap up Proverbs Week with day five of Proverbs Week at the ⁓ the end of the show today. But ⁓ I'm gonna tell you some of us are ⁓ really excited about college football, and ⁓ it it starts tomorrow, brother. It is it is here and I am ready. We've ⁓ we got one more week until we get to watch our beloved dogs break it down and show us what they'll be all about this year. Before we get into any kind of specific breakdowns or specific topics, we've talked about a lot leading up to this. And you know, right now I'm just gonna kind of give you guys what I I think should be the generic approach to what we should be looking for next Saturday. and then we'll roll into getting into what porn. But here's the thing, guys. We can't let week one next week turn us into a crazy person. I if Georgia looks good, and I expect us to, ⁓ we can't crown anybody yet. We are playing an absolute nobody. If the offense looks vanilla and plain and boring or maybe a little sluggish, that's fine. Don't panic. ⁓ we're not we're not going to be emptying the entire playbook. We're not trying to show Tennessee State everything we're capable of. and if the young guy flashes, look, let's let's be excited about it. Let's let's announce it for what it is. ⁓ but it may not be time to declare him an all-American just yet. This week next week's game matters. It absolutely does, but it it's not really relevant to the whole story. What we need to watch for is just some habits and some patterns and you know health above above all else. Can we get out with no injuries? Let's look at the effort and the execution of the guys. and then let's take a breath because it won't be long before we get into the meat of the schedule and we're gonna find out real quick who this team is. All right, guys, we have been talking proverbs all week long, which brings us to Proverbs day five. The ⁓ the theme of the day is stop asking God to bless a life that you refuse to build. In other words, prayer matters. So does getting off your you know what. We'll start this morning with a with a prayer. And I'm gonna warn you, it's probably not a prayer that you're likely to hear in your church. Ready? God, please help me get healthier, but I don't really want to exercise. Please fix my finances. But I'd rather not change how I spend money. Please strengthen my marriage. But I really don't want to put down my phone, swallow my pride, or give my spouse any of my attention. Lord, please help me succeed at work. ⁓ but preferably without really having to put forth much effort or doing anything difficult. God, will you please help make me wiser? Hey, but don't correct me and hurt my feelings. Give me opportunities. But let's make sure they're convenient. God, please give me a stronger relationship with you. But I'd rather do it without taking the time to open my Bible or really praying a lot. And finally, Lord. Please change my life without requiring me to change anything. Amen. Ever prayed something like that? Probably not. Seems pretty ridiculous, right? But I wonder how many of us are quietly kind of living alongside that that silly prayer. Welcome to day five, the finale of Proverbs Week. And Solomon has spent the last four days stepping all over our toes. So we might as well let him finish the job. Today we're talking about something that Proverbs talks about over and over and over again. Doing the work. Proverbs chapter 6 says, Go to the ant, O sluggard. Consider her ways and be wise. Solomon's telling you you need a mentor. And apparently things have gotten so bad in your life that you should go see an ant. Not an ant as in a relative of your father or mother, an ant. In the small little brown insects. Go outside, get down on the ground, find get down on the ground and find you an ant and take notes. That's what Solomon's telling you to do. Without having any chief, officer, or ruler, the ant prepares her bread in the summer and gathers her food and harvest. Nobody has to stand over the ant, nobody has to remind the ant. Nobody has to motivate the ant. Nobody has to send the ant a calendar invitation. It does what needs to be done. And apparently, and I would agree, Solomon thinks there's some wisdom in that. Now now look, let me let me take the time to make something really clear before somebody takes this message somewhere I have no intentions of going. This isn't wake up at four o'clock in the morning, cold plunge, run seven miles, read three books, start six new businesses, make your first million before breakfast, and then make sure you post a picture about it so everybody else knows. Now that that's not what we're talking about here. Proverbs isn't about worshiping busyness, it's teaching us diligence. And there's a huge difference here. Busyness asks, how much did I do? Diligence asks, was I faithful in what God called me to do? A mother faithfully raising her children can be diligent. A father just going to work every day at his blue-collar job can be diligent. A teacher, a student, Business owners, a retiree caring for his parents can be diligent. Any person quietly serving somebody that nobody else notices is just doing diligent work. Biblical diligent isn't about everybody seeing how hard you're working, it's about being faithful with exactly what God has placed in your hands. This isn't hustle culture with a Bible verse taped to it. This is legitimate stewardship. Now let's let's let ourselves get a little bit uncomfortable. There's a phrase that we as Christians use all the time, myself included. I'm waiting on God. And sometimes, now, don't get me wrong, sometimes that's exactly what you're supposed to do. Sometimes God is telling you to sit still and wait on him. There are absolutely seasons of your life where that's the right call. But sometimes I wonder if we're actually waiting on God or if we're just procrastinating and giving it a spiritual time and spiritual calling to it. Because there's some things that we don't need another sign from above to make a move on. You probably don't need another sign for certain apologies that you know you need to make. You probably don't need another sign that you need to start taking better care of your body. You certainly don't need another sign that you need to get your finances under control, that you need to spend more time with your children, or that you should stop doing that thing that you know is destroying you. You don't need another sign that you should start praying more. You don't need another sign to tell you to open your Bible. I tell you every day. Sometimes we're asking God for direction on something that He's already made pretty clear to us. Maybe you're waiting on God, or maybe you're just saying you are, but you're actually just refusing to do something He's already told you to do. Sometimes He tells you to take the next step. Take it. Faith is not an excuse for passivity. Faith doesn't mean sitting around and doing nothing and expecting God to construct our entire lives for us. Pray about the job, most certainly, but then send the application. Pray about your marriage for sure, but then put the phone down and have the conversation with your spouse. Pray about your finances, but then make a budget and stick to it. Pray about your health, but then do something. Get out and move a little bit. Take some steps. Pray about your relationship with God. And then actually open the Bible. Look, if you need to make that phone call, send the email, make an appointment, apologize, cancel that subscription, take the class, go to church, get out of bed, start writing, take that first daily walk. Or have that difficult conversation. Whatever it is that God has been calling you to do, take the next faithful step. Faith is not an excuse for passivity. You've got to do your part. And Proverbs has something to say to us about talking too. And apparently, all those years ago, old Solomon knew we'd be really good about talking about what we're going to do. In chapter 14, verse 23, we're told, In all toil there is profit, but mere talk. tends only to poverty. All right. How many things are we going to do? I'm gonna get in shape. I'm gonna start saving. I'm gonna start that new business. I'm gonna write a book. I'm gonna do another podcast. I'm gonna work on that relationship. I'm gonna stop drinking so much. I'm gonna make an effort to spend more time with my kids. I'm gonna start going to church again, reading the scripture every morning. I'm gonna, I'm gonna, I'm gonna all right intentions are great, but at some point your intentions need to be put on the calendar. That's a line worth remembering, folks. If something really matters to you, when are you going to do it? Not someday. When? What's the first step? When are you going to take that step? Good intentions can make us feel great and productive, but we may not actually be producing anything because of the inactivity. Wanting it is not the same as building it. Chapter 13, verse 4. The soul of the sluggard craves and gets nothing, while the soul of the diligent is richly supplied. The sluggard craves. He wants it. He desires it. He has dreams about it. Maybe that sluggard has even set goals. And I bet we know some sluggards that have some really good intentions. The problem isn't the desire. The problem isn't that he's not ambitious and doesn't want anything. The problem is that that waiting becomes permanent and he never does anything. And I think that's incredibly relevant. A lot of us know exactly what kind of person we want to become and what kind of person God's calling us to become. We'd love to be healthier, more disciplined, more financially secure, a better spouse, a better parent, closer to him, more generous, more patient, more successful in general. But here's the real uncomfortable truth. You don't become that person by wanting to become that person. Eventually, there has to be action. There has to be repetition. There has to be discipline. There's going to be some boring things that you're going to have to do today, tomorrow, and the next day. Just what it is. But now we need the other half because if we stop right there, we basically got a pretty good emotional speech, motivational, and everything. You can find 10,000 of those online, and I don't want to just be another one of those. Biblical wisdom gives us something completely different. The heart of a man, chapter 16, verse 9. The heart of a man plans his way, but the Lord establishes his step. There it is. That's ⁓ that's it, plain and simple. We plan, God directs. We work, God remains sovereign. We plant, he determines what grows. We prepare as much as we can, but only he can control which doors actually open. And that's the that's the tension that biblical wisdom asks us to have to live with. ⁓ you have to work every day, like your responsibility matters, but you got to pray about things because God's sovereignty matters more. It's not. Just, hey, God will handle everything so I can sit and do nothing. And it's not also all of this depends on me. I have to do it all myself. Neither of those is the right answer. Instead, what we need to be thinking is, God, I will faithfully work with what's in my hands, and I will trust you completely with what isn't. Love that prayer. Love that sentiment because there are things in my hands and there are things that aren't. My effort, that's all me. My integrity, you betcha I got that under control. My preparation, my hands. How I treat people, always in my hands. Whether I show up, that's on me. Do I do the work? That's in my hands. Outcomes, however, not always. Tomorrow, not in my hands. How every circumstances from here on will unfold, not in my hands. So I will continue to work faithfully with what God gave me, but I will trust him completely with everything that he didn't give to me. And that brings us back to the entire week. We have spent five days rolling through Proverbs. And let me tell you, we could spend five weeks, five months in this book. I don't want us to finish this week with just five pages of notes, five podcast episodes that maybe three people listen to, a couple of good quotes. I've done some good stuff this week. I don't doubt that. But if nothing changes on Monday morning, we we've done nothing. Look at what Proverbs has asked from us on day one. We asked whether we are actually teachable. Because wisdom requires humility. Can I admit that I was wrong? Can I receive correction? Can I learn? And then we talked about our mouths because wisdom requires restraint. Not every thought needs to be spoken. Not every argument that you're invited to needs your participation. Not every emotion needs to be expressed. And then we looked at the people around us. Wisdom understands influence. Who are you walking with? Who's shaping you? And more importantly, what happens to the people who are walking with you? Yesterday we stopped, we talked about stop moving the finish line. Because in order to have wisdom, you've got to have gratitude. Don't become so obsessed with the things that are missing that you become blind to the things God has already blessed you with. And now today, Proverbs leaves us with one final question. What are you going to do with what you know? Biblical wisdom isn't about just collecting a bunch of clever sayings. It isn't about highlighting Bible verses or listening to silly podcasts like this one. Wisdom is supposed to change how we live. And look, we've been studying Proverbs all week, but but James puts a bow on this. James says something in the New Testament that I think perfectly captures where Proverbs try lead us. It's James chapter 1, verse 22. But be doers of the word and not hearers only, deceiving yourself. Doers, not just hearers. That's it. Don't simply agree with what you read, live it. Don't simply admire the wisdom. Practice it. Don't simply ask God what you should do and then know what you should do. Do it. I'm not going to give you a bunch of things to do this weekend. I'm going to give you just one. One challenge, and I'm actually going to let you choose it. Ask yourself: what is one thing that I already know I need to do? Don't overthink it. Something may have already popped in your head in the first couple of seconds. You may have been praying about you. You need to call your dad. You need to apologize to your wife. Forgive somebody. Make that doctor's appointment. Start sticking to your budget. Get serious about your health. Stop that habit. Apply for the job. Whatever it is. Maybe it's just as simple as you've been telling yourself to open that Bible every morning. Whatever your thing is, your one thing that you choose that you know you need to do, whatever it is, write it down. And then just underneath it, write, what's the next step? Not the whole plan, not the next six months, not gonna have not how you're gonna completely reinvent your wife. You can completely reinvent your wife too, but not how you're gonna completely reinvent your life with this. Just simply, what's the next faithful step? And then take it. There's one passage from Proverbs that that almost everybody knows. And I had intentionally saved it for the end. Because after everything we've talked about this week. I can't think of a better way to finish. This is my favorite verse, and it's been my favorite verse since the very first moment I started pursuing my faith. Proverbs chapter 3, verses 5 and 6. Trust in the Lord with all of your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge Him, and He will make straight your paths. That's it, guys. That's Proverbs week. We don't know everything. God does. We can't control everything. God can. We don't know where every road leads. God does. So we seek wisdom. We work faithfully. We make plans. We listen. We learn. We control our mouths and we choose our influences. We practice gratitude when we should. We do the work. And through all of it, we trust Him. You cannot control tomorrow. You can't control every outcome. You don't control other people. You don't control your opportunities all the time. You don't control how every chapter in your book turns out. And you certainly have zero control over how much time you have left. But God has put some things in your hands: a marriage, a family, a body, a job, a gift, an opportunity, a calling, a relationship. Just a little bit more time, maybe. Stop waiting for perfect circumstances. Stop talking about what you're gonna do and who you're gonna be. Stop asking God to bless the imaginary person that you plan to become. Be faithful with the person you are today. Pray. Plan. Work. Love people. Do the next right thing. And then trust God with the result. Five days, five lessons. Stay teachable. Control your mouth. Choose your influences wisely. Be grateful for what you already have and faithfully work with what God has placed in your control. And above it all, trust the Lord where that road leads. Because maybe that's the greatest lesson Proverbs can teach us. Wisdom isn't knowing everything, wisdom is knowing who does. God, I will faithfully work with what's in my hands, and I will trust you with what's it what isn't. That's Proverbs week, guys. And as always, get in your Bible, say your prayers, love one another, and tell the truth. God bless.