Latest / Beliefs, Ballots, And BullDawgs / August 27, 2026
Transcript
- Greg: Hey, what's up, everybody? It is Thursday, August 27th. I'm your host, Greg Miller, and this is the latest episode of Beliefs, Ballots, and Bulldogs. We're gonna keep it short and simple today. And as we get ready, we're we're barely more than a week out from Georgia football. And I, for one, am crazy excited. So the question today is: what do you want to see in game one? And we lose, look, next Saturday is not about drama. It's it's just a tune-up. Let's be real honest here. This is not gonna be a competitive game, but But the question is, what do you want to see? What do you feel like you need to see out of this team to to feel good about things for that opening game? You know, I I hate to sound cliche, but I I I just want to see good, clean football. No sloppy starts, none no busted assignments, cheap penalties. Let's let's try to get out of there with no injuries and turnovers, obviously. I don't want to look like we're sleepwalking just because we know that that we outmatched the other team. I I want to see Gunner be able to take command of this offense and and and show some some crispness and maybe a little more rhythm throwing the ball than last year. I don't want him to force anything. He doesn't have to prove the the whole season in one game here. But I want him to look calm and sharp and prepared and and just under control of the offense. And I want to see the offensive line dominate. We should be able to move people around all game, run the ball at will when we need to. I I want to see the receivers be able to get some separation and make some big plays, pick up some nice third-down conversions when we need them to step up. I I want to take control of this game and see the young guys get some real snaps. Not just garbage time handoffs, real football. I want to see these guys play. I want to see that defense running around, hitting people, looking like that Georgia ferocious defense of the past. And most of all, I just I want to see a sense of urgency. I don't think championship teams these days can wait until the big games to start dialing things in. You gotta build the habits early. You gotta show up. You gotta take care of business. So that's it. I know I know it's cliche. I know it's generic and abstract, but I just want to see a good, clean game in all facets. I want to show up and take care of business like we know we should and get these young guys some run because we probably won't be able to later in the season. But that's my opinion. I don't care what the final score is. We can win by 30. We can win by 50. That doesn't matter. I'm not a big stats guy. I I just want to see it with my eyeballs and see what we're going to look like. But ⁓ tell me what you're looking for. What's what's going to tell you in game one against an overmatched opponent that this dog team is who we think they are and that they're locked in and ready for this season. All right, guys, we are on to day four of Proverbs Week. And I had I have been reminded of just how amazing the book of Proverbs is. And it's it it brings me back to when I first started my scriptural journey. And and it it seems like forever ago, but ⁓ a a very wise person told me, Look, if you if you're struggling to figure out how to get into the Bible, just start reading one chapter of Proverbs a day. And I'm telling you, it's great advice. You can't go wrong with just starting in the book of Proverbs. It is it the the profound wisdom from 3,000 years ago that still applies to our world today is just it it's breathtaking. It's again, it it's just one of those chances to sit back and and and just be absolutely in awe of how amazing our God is. So the the question we're getting today is is really kind of revolving around that that you know the the thief of joy that is comparison. But we want to start by thinking about it from this way. How much would it take for you to finally say, I have enough? Seriously, like what's the number? How much money? How big does your house need to be? How successful do you need to be climbing that career ladder? How many followers do you need? How many customers? How much recognition? How what kind of car do you need to drive to feel good about yourself? How perfect does that marriage need to look? How successful do your kids need to be? Where exactly is that finish line where you're gonna stop, look around, and say, man, God has been really good to me. I've been blessed. Have enough. Because I think there's a problem that we all deal with, and that's that every time we get close to that line, we move it. Welcome today for Proverbs Week. Today we're going to talk about something that I think has probably stolen more joy from more people than we all realize, and that's envy. Listen to the language that Solomon uses in Proverbs chapter 14, verse 30. A tranquil heart gives life to the flesh, but envy makes the bones rot. Envy makes the bones rot. Now, Solomon could have said, hey, you know, envy makes you unhappy. Envy makes you frustrated. Envy puts you in a bad mood. All those things are true. But that's not what he said. The image he gives us is something eating you from the inside out. And that's exactly how envy works for us. You can look completely fine on the outside. Successful, happy, beautiful family, nice house, great career. Hey, smile for the picture, everybody. Post that vacation, go to church, tell everybody you're doing great. But underneath it, you might be quietly miserable because somebody else has something you don't. Rotting from comparison while surrounded by blessings. That's a terrible place to be. And I wonder how many of us are sitting there without even realizing. Think about that. What if you're rotting by comparison while surrounded by the same blessings you've been praying for your whole life? Think about how this happens. You you get a promotion and you're just thrilled. You can't wait to celebrate it. And then you find out what somebody else above you makes. You buy a house and you decorate it and you love it. And then you walk into somebody else's house that might just be a little bit nicer. You've been working hard, you finally dialed it in, you lost that 20 pounds you've been wanting to lose, you feel great. And then you open Instagram and see somebody who looks even better. As a business, you've you've had your best year ever. You're proud of what you've built. And then you hear that somebody else's business did twice as much. Your podcast reached a milestone. Hey guys, I've got like four or five listeners most days now. That's a milestone. I'm excited. But then you see that somebody else's audience is 10 times bigger. Your child accomplishes something incredible. Both of my children are incredible, bursting with pride. Yeah, no kidding. But then somebody else's kid gets a bigger scholarship or might be a better athlete. You know, they get into a bigger, better school or have a better opportunity. And then suddenly some of the very same things that we were grateful for yesterday, all of a sudden they don't feel like enough today. But notice here, your blessings didn't change. House didn't change, your family didn't change, your accomplishments didn't change at all. What you compared it to changed. And that's the danger we all face. Comparison doesn't actually have to take anything away from you to make you feel poor. You can have exactly the same life that you were thankful for yesterday and enjoy it a whole lot less today simply because you look sideways at somebody else. And this is where proverbs start messing with the way the world measures a good life. Chapter 15, verse 16. Better is a little with the fear of the Lord than great treasure and trouble with it. And then in 17:1, better is a dry morsel with quiet than a house full of feasting with strife. Notice the word Solomon keeps using here. Better. He's redefining it because our culture has pretty simple math. More money, better. Better. More followers. Better. Higher position, more attention, more stuff, better. Solomon says, not necessarily here though. A smaller house filled with peace can be better. Less money with integrity can be better. A simple dinner with people who love you can be better than an expensive dinner filled in a house full of resentment. A quiet life with the people you love can be better than being with famous people who don't actually know you. More isn't automatically better. Sometimes better is better. And biblical wisdom teaches us to know the difference. Now, this isn't an argument against ambition. I want to be really clear about that. There is nothing wrong with wanting to improve. Build your business, chase that promotion, lose the weight, save the money, train hard, grow that podcast. Y'all, please listen and try in here. Buy the house, set the goals, dream big. Proverbs certainly doesn't celebrate laziness. We're going to talk about that before the week's over. The problem isn't that you want to grow. The problem begins when that growth becomes that you can't be satisfied until you have more. That's a difference. One says, God, help me faithfully build what you've given me. The other says, God, what you've given me isn't enough. One produces stewardship. The other can produce slavery. Because if happiness is always sitting at the next accomplishment, you'll spend your entire life being almost happy. We can forget sometimes that we are literally living in an answered prayer. And that's where today's message gets really personal for me. And I think it should get personal for most of us. There is a strange tragedy that can happen to all of us in life. We can pray desperately for something, receive it, live with it for a while, and eventually. Start complaining about it. Think about that. There may have been a time where you prayed for that spouse who's irritating you today. Think about that, baby. You prayed for me at some point and now you got me. There may be a time where you prayed for that child whose schedule is now running you ragged, driving them all around town. There may be a time where you prayed for that job that you're complaining about every Monday morning. You prayed for the house that you're now wishing was bigger or that you can't keep clean. You prayed for the opportunity that's currently stressing you out. You prayed, God, please give this to me. And he answered. Then enough time passed. And what once felt like a miracle in an answered prayer now starts to feel ordinary. Don't miss this, guys. Familiarity can make a blessing feel common, and comparison can make it feel inadequate. That's a dangerous, dangerous combination. Now, social media gets blamed for everything. And I'm guilty of that. I think social media is the root of a lot of our problems. But social media didn't invent envy. Kane managed to envy Able way before we had Wi-Fi. Human beings have always compared ourselves to one another. But our phones have done something remarkable. They have allowed us to industrialize the art of comparison. Think about this: like in 30 seconds or less, I can see somebody richer than me, better looking than me, more successful. ⁓ Better looking than me? You know, more successful than me, on a better vacation, in a nicer house, driving a nicer car with children who may be more accomplished, with a marriage that appears to be more romantic. I can see people who are living a life that considerably seems easier and better than mine. And here's the insanity. I'm comparing all of those perfectly and carefully selected moments to my unedited Tuesday afternoon. Of course, I'm gonna lose that comparison. I'm comparing someone else's highlight reel to my behind-the-scenes footage. And that's another problem we all deal with. There will always be somebody who has more. So if your happiness requires winning the comparison, you're never gonna do it. And here's something else I've noticed about envy. Eventually, envy no longer just says, Man, I wish I had that. Envy will eventually get you to the point where you start saying, Why do they have that? And that's where envy turns into something real ugly. Instead of celebrating someone else's blessing, those blessings can start to irritate us. Someone else's success now feels like evidence of our own failure. Their good news makes us uncomfortable. Guys, that's poison. Somebody else's success doesn't mean God forgot you. Somebody else's blessing didn't come out of your account. You don't have to diminish what God is doing in someone else's life. To appreciate what he's doing in yours. Celebrate people. Cheer for your friends. Be genuinely happy when somebody around you wins. Because if you can only enjoy your life when you're doing better than everybody around you, you are going to become a pretty miserable person. Now look, let me flip this whole thing around. We have spent all this time looking at people that have something that we don't. But let me ask you something. What if somebody's looking at your life that way? Think about it. Think about that house that you complain about. Somebody else would love to live there. Think about the marriage that you take for granted. Somebody else is praying for companionship. That noisy dinner table because the kids won't won't leave you alone. There is somebody out there who would give almost anything to hear children of their own running through the house. That job that frustrates you, somebody out there is praying for an opportunity. The parents who sometimes drive you nuts, there's a lot of people that would give anything. One more phone call from mom or dad. The ordinary Saturday afternoon that just barely even registers anymore that you're hanging out with your family, there may come a day where you'd give almost anything to have one more of those. Look, I'm not saying this to make anybody feel guilty, and I'm certainly not saying anybody else is suffering that it means your struggles aren't real. I'm simply saying don't become so obsessed with what's missing that you become blind to what's present. Because maybe You're a lot wealthier than you realized. Proverbs 1022 says, The blessing of the Lord makes rich, and he adds no sorrow with it. Maybe the whole world has given us a terrible definition of what rich means. Rich isn't what's only in your bank account. Maybe rich is a spouse that you still love coming home to. I can tell you, that's a blessing. Kids that still want to talk to you and want to come to you to celebrate things. Parents that you can still call when you need to talk, friends who know the real you and choose to love you anyway, a peaceful home, work that's worth doing, food on the table, a body that was able to get you up out of bed this morning, a church family, a clear conscience, a purpose, people that laugh or smile when you walk in the room, people who would notice if you weren't there. And above all, knowing Christ. These are things that money cannot buy. And they're all things money can't touch. Don't be so busy chasing the first category that you neglect the second. There are things that money can't buy, and there are things that all the money in the world can't touch. Think about that. I couldn't say it the first time, but think about that. I want you to think about your life five years ago, ten years ago, twenty years ago. Think about some of the things that you've hoped for. You've prayed for, you've dreamed about the people you wanted beside you, the family you hoped you could build, the opportunities you wanted. Think about that life you imagined way back then. Now look around you. Maybe it doesn't look exactly like you pictured it. Life rarely does. Maybe there's still some things that you're praying for. There should be. But perhaps somewhere inside this ordinary life that you've gotten very accustomed to, there's something extraordinary that you've just stopped noticing. You are already standing right in the middle of some things that you prayed for. Don't miss it. Don't spend the entire blessing looking over the fence. So here's the day four challenge. Tomorrow morning, before you touch social media, before you email, before you read the news, before you start comparing your life to anyone else's, name five things that you have that you once wanted. Five. And for the first five minutes of your prayer, don't ask God for anything. Just say thank you. Thank you for her. Thank you for him. Thank you for them. Thank you for this home. Thank you for this job. Thank you for all the opportunities. Thank you for another morning. Thank you for what you've already done. Maybe nothing about your circumstances changes, but maybe something does. Maybe your eyes change. And sometimes, that's the biggest miracle you can get. Keep working. Keep building. Dream big, set goals, improve, create, compete. Chase excellence and love mercilessly. Use every gift God gave you. But don't keep moving the finish line so far ahead that you never stop long enough to realize God has already been incredibly good to you and incredibly good to me. You don't need to apologize for wanting more out of life. Just don't let wanting more prevent you from appreciating that you've already got enough. Don't let somebody else's abundance make your blessings feel insufficient. Don't let comparison steal joy from something that you thanked God for yesterday. Don't spend your whole life say, I'll be happy when. Look around. Maybe you're not there yet. Maybe there are dreams still ahead. Maybe God still has incredible things planned for your life. I hope He does. But today, right now, there are blessings sitting around you that deserve your attention. So stop moving the finish line for one minute. Put the phone down, look around you. Look at the people God gave you. Think about the prayers He's already answered. And just say, God, thank you. Because you may discover this. You're already standing inside of something that you once prayed for. That's it for today, guys. As always, get in your Bible, say your prayers, love one another, and tell the truth. God bless.