Latest / Beliefs, Ballots, And BullDawgs / Tuesday July 7, 2026
Transcript
- Greg: Hey there, welcome back to Beliefs, Ballots, and Bulldogs. I'm your host, Greg Miller. Today is Tuesday, July 7th. The ⁓ the theme or the title of today's episode is The Ground is Level at the Foot of the Cross. Today I want to ask a question. When did we all become so convinced that we're better than somebody else? Every day we're encouraged to pick aside, divide people into categories, good guys and bad guys. Us versus them, Republicans, Democrats, rich and poor, church people and non-church people. The world is constantly asking us to decide who's in and who's out. But the gospel begins somewhere different. It begins with an uncomfortable truth that all of us have to face. Today we're going to take a look at what the Apostle Paul writes in in the chap in the book of Romans, chapter three, verse twenty-three and twenty-four. So it's a passage we've all heard. The Apostle Paul tells us For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus. That's all have sinned. We we are all in in one group. Paul doesn't leave anyone out, not kings, not pastors, not politicians, not church leaders, not atheists, not you, and not me. Every one of you and every one of us has fallen short of God's perfect standard. And notice here, Paul doesn't compare us to each other. He compares us to the holiness of God. That's important. The standard isn't whether I'm better than my neighbor, better than the guy down the street, or better than somebody else. The standard is God's ultimate and holy perfection. And against that standard, well, we all come up short. That's pretty humbling. But it's also very free. It reminds us that absolutely none of us stand before the good the glory of God on the basis of our own goodness. That's not the expectation. The gospel here is it it destroys pride and despair. I if you're proud, th this passage, Romans in in chapter t or verse twenty-three tells you you're not as righteous as you think you are. And if you're discouraged, then chapter t or verse twenty-four tells you, hey, God's grace is even greater than your failures. That's very reassuring to me. This is why those two verses work so well together and why they belong together. Without verse twenty-three, we don't necessarily understand why we need a savior. And without without verse twenty-four, People wouldn't understand how much God loves us even though we're sinners. The word used by the Apostle Paul, the word justified, is is one of the richest words in scripture, in my opinion. It doesn't mean that God is going to pretend like our sins never happened. It means that because of Christ, God declares those who trust him to be right in his eyes. Not because they've earned it, and not because they've redeemed themselves in some manner, not because they've cleaned up their lives, and not because they're finally good enough. They never will be, because of his grace and his grace alone. Grace is receiving what we could never earn and should never deserve. Mercy, on the other hand, is not receiving a punishment that we do reserve. The gospel gives us both, and it's a beautiful thing. One thing that I think, you know, when we we talk about grace, grace is is clearly and evidently missing from our culture these days. We are we are quick to cancel, quick to condemn, quick to define people by their worst moments. And anything posted on the internet lasts forever. God tells us a different story. He doesn't ignore sin, he confronts it, but then he offers his redemption. As Christians, we should never lower God's standard, but we should never forget how we met that standard, not through our own perfection, but through Christ's sacrifice. That changes how we speak to people, it changes how we forget. Give, it changes how we disagree. Truth without grace just becomes a harsh, harsh medicine. Grace without truth is shallow and ineffective. The gospel holds both of them together because they need to be held together to work. Think about people who who maybe in the past or even currently, think about people you've struggled to forgive. Think about people or maybe somebody who's who's disappointed you. Think about a person who you believe may have just gone too far. And then remember this. If God had only given people what they deserved, none of us would have any hope at all. Every one of us is living because of grace. Every one of us is breathing because of mercy. That rationalization and that realization should make us pretty humble. No reason to be arrogant, we should be compassionate, not self righteous, but loving. Maybe the question we should be asking ourselves isn't how bad is that person? Maybe the question rather should be how much grace has God shown me with the bad stuff I've done? Whenever we remember our own rescue, it makes it much harder to look down on someone else who may still be struggling. All right, guys, we got sixty days until Georgia football. ⁓ got a little bit of a strange one for the number sixty. We're going with number sixty offensive lineman way back in the day, Pat Dye. ⁓ the reason I say this is a a little bit of a strange one is if if you're into the SEC, this one hits home on three different levels. ⁓ Pat Dye was a UGA player and a pretty good one. ⁓ later went on to coach and become an absolute legend at one of our Biddle rivals, Auburn. ⁓ and then somehow in around 2006 to 2008 or so, Coach Dye gets credit for UGA beating Alabama ⁓ because we were playing on the road and he ⁓ apparently was quoted to a local newspaper saying that he didn't think the dogs were quote unquote Man enough to go to Tuscaloosa and come away with the wind. Well, how that will work out for you. We got the W. Speaking of sports, ⁓ today I want to I want to talk a little bit about something that's ⁓ it's it's a very hot button issue and and it seems these days it's it's really hard to discuss without people ending up yelling at each other. ⁓ but it's the topic of of girls' sports and and fairness and compassion and ultimately the truth. It you know, we have to learn how to have these hard conversations. ⁓ and and learn how to disagree on important topics without immediately accusing everybody who sees the other side as evil or full of hate. ⁓ the Supreme Court recently cleared the way for for states to to ban transgender athletes from competing in in girls or women's sports. And obviously depending on where you sit politically, you you probably heard this and had one of two reactions. Either one, like my side, says good, finally, we need to protect females, protect girls' sports. ⁓ and then the other side of the equation is this this is so cruel, it's targeting the vulnerable transgender kids. And and here's where I think we all need to slow down a little bit, because ⁓ the easy thing to do is is pick a team, grab a slogan, and and just start swinging away. ⁓ but as followers of Christ, I I think we're called to do better than that. We're called to focus on, respond to, and ultimately tell the truth. And and we're supposed to tell the truth with an element of love. And and those two things, like we said earlier, those two things belong together. Truth without love is just flat out harsh, and and love without truth is dishonest and ineffective. You know, the question today is not, you know, for for people on my side, it's not do you hate trans kids? I I mean, that's an entirely dishonest way to even frame the conversation. And and the question shouldn't be, you know, hey, do girls matter more than anyone else? That's that's not the point either. The real question is this. Can we tell the truth about fairness while still treating every individual with dignity? That's the conversation we need to have. And I I I know how this issue is. I I know this is a loaded topic. ⁓ everybody has strong feelings one way or another. I I know it's hurting families. I I I know girls feel like they're being told their opportunities don't matter. ⁓ and then I know that there are kids out there struggling with with a gender identity, and that's something obviously I can't relate to. ⁓ but we're not trying to make them feel rejected or certainly not trying to make them feel hated. ⁓ but the point is we also shouldn't be having adults on the other side of the argument using them as as political pawns. So that's where I think the, you know, as Christians, I think that's where we should start. Every person in every conversation is made in the image of God. This topic in this conversation is no different. The the female athlete who wants a fair race is made in the image of God. The girl who is trained for years and sacrificed and competed and and wants a level playing field is made in the image of God. And also the the student who may be struggling with gender identity is made in the image of God. The parent who is scared for their kid on either side of this debate is made in the image of God. The coach trying to navigate pressure from every direction is also made in the image of God. So we're not talking about political props here. We're talking about human beings, and that means we have to be sure that we don't get careless in in how we try to go about this debate. You know, being compassionate doesn't mean we we have to pretend like the truth doesn't matter. You know, Scripture says in in in the book of Micah, chapter six, verse eight, He has told you, O man, what is good and what does the Lord require of you but to do justice and to love kindness and to walk humbly with your God. That that verse tells us what we're supposed to do. Do justice, which justice can't exist without truth, but still love kindness, walk humbly. And not just one of these. We're called to do all three. You know, justice is where the fairness comes in. If if in order to do justice, fairness has to matter. You know, loving kindness means we have to make the people, even the ones we disagree with, they matter. And walking humbly means that while we should be called to speak with conviction. We should never speak with arrogance. So we want to talk about this from an element of fairness. You know, my opinion is girls' sports exist for a reason. We have long since separated male and female sports because the biological difference simply matters in competition. It's not hate, it's not bigotry, it's not sexism. This is just the truth. This is why female divisions were created in the first place. If if biological sex didn't matter in sports, we wouldn't even have women's sports to start with. We would just have sports and everybody would compete together. But we did separate them and we do separate them because strength and speed and size and muscle mass and bone structure and lung capacity. And certainly once people go through puberty, all of that stuff matters. And if those things matter, then fairness matters too. There are girls who have have worked so hard for their entire lives for scholarships or for records or for championships or even just for a roster spot. They get up early, they train hard, they sacrifice, their parents are driving them all over the place. They have put in the work and they deserve to know that the category they are competing in actually means something. It it's not hateful to say this. This is simply reasonable and honest. Fairness is not bigotry. But now let's talk about compassion. Some people will hear this issue and immediately it it turns into a mockery. They make jokes, they call people names, they speak about the confused or hurting kids like they're some kind of monsters. Well well, that's not what we're called to do. ⁓ that's that's just flat wrong, that's not courage, and that's certainly not an element of Christianity we want to embrace. If if your defense of the truth requires you to strip people of dignity, then you're not really defending truth in a Christ like way. You may be making a political point and you may be getting applause from people who already agree with you and were on your side before the argument, but you're not showing the heart of Christ here. Jesus was never afraid to tell the truth, and we never should be either. A child struggling with an identity crisis is not some sort of enemy for us. A young person who who's caught in this debate, it it can't be used as a national political pawn and and be fighting like there's some kind of war and they're the enemy. A family trying to figure out what to do with a child in pain is not the enemy. And it doesn't mean that every demand should be accepted, and Lord knows I don't go along with a lot of the craziness, but it does mean that feelings are important. Feelings don't determine reality, and feelings don't chip don't change the truth, but that doesn't make the feelings unimportant and doesn't mean you can ignore them altogether. It also doesn't mean that compassion requires surrendering to the Lies, it doesn't mean that compassion requires surrendering fairness. It does mean that Christians should speak in a way that remembers that there are human beings on the other side of this issue and every issue. And this is really where I think our culture has been failing lately. You know, one side will often say, if if you care about fairness for girls, that makes you a hateful person. And that's simply not where we're coming from. And the other side says if a kid is struggling with Gender identity, they they deserve to be ridiculed. It's it's a sickness. Well nobody's calling us like we don't want to call those guys out. We don't to make anybody feel bad. None of those sides are Christian. Both are wrong. The Christian position should always be about the truth in a courageous manner, but it should always be presented with compassion and love. We can say that girls' sports deserve to be protected. We can say that biological sex does in fact matter. We can say that fairness matters. We can say that Title IX created a way to expand opportunities for women and girls, not erase the category of female competition. And we can also say that no child should be mocked, humiliated, or bullied, or treated like some sort of political pawn. That's the balance. The problem is balance doesn't go viral, and that's all anybody cares about these days. Outrage goes viral, mockery goes viral. The absolute most extreme things you can put out there are what goes viral. The cruelest comments are the ones that get the attention, and the loudest voices are always getting the rewards. But Christians cannot be discipled by the algorithm. We talked about that yesterday. We need to be discipled by the Scripture, the Word of God. And Scripture tells us to do justice, love kindness, and walk humbly with God. So let me say this as plainly as I can. As a conservative, I believe girls deserve fairness in their own sports. I believe women athletes should be protected and And I believe biology really does matter. I believe parents have every right to speak up when their daughters are being asked to compete in categories that no longer seem fair. But as a Christian, I also believe no child should be dehumanized, no child should be turned into a punchline, and no child should be treated if they are beyond the reach of God's love. No child, none, should be anything more than born in the image of God. This is not just used for political ammunition and this crazy political warfare we're trying to deal with. And that's exactly what too many adults are doing. ⁓ adults are failing the kids by by turning these kids into some sort of political signal. And, you know, one side in particular really seems to be using a a small percentage of of what I believe to be sick and and kids who need help, and they're using them to try to put produce and and make political points. Somewhere in the middle, there are actually some children who, and again, I do believe there are some children who legitimately struggle with gender identity, and I feel for them. I can't imagine the confusion and the pressure and the anxiety and the loneliness that comes with that. They should not be used. Our job is not to use them as political points, and that we've got to get the other side to stop that. But on our side, our job is to tell the truth and love those kids as we can, according to the Bible. All of that means we still can protect girls. We can protect fairness and we can protect the truth and reality, but we also got to protect dignity for everybody on all sides of every argument. And I believe we can have both. I don't think this is a false choice. I don't think we have to keep choosing sides. Christians should never be forced to choose between the truth and compassion. We are commanded to carry both by the Bible. Truth is not cruelty, and compassion is not cowardice. Fairness is not hate. And kindness doesn't always equal surrender. This is where we all need to be very careful with our words, because the way we talk about the hard issues reveals what's really happening in our hearts. It is possible to be right in your position and be very wrong in your spirit. It is possible to defend a good thing in a very ugly way. It is possible to win an argument, but lose your credibility and therefore your ability to witness. And I don't want that for any of us. I don't want Christians to be so eager to be proven right that we forget to be Christians. I don't want Christians to become so afraid of being called hateful, though, that we stop telling the truth. That's that's the tension, and that's where courage lives. Courage is not screaming at people, courage is not mocking people, courage is not posting memes all over the place. Courage is standing on the truth, but doing so while keeping your heart soft. Courage is saying, I will not deny reality. But I will also not deny your humanity. And that's what this conversation needs. So today, when we talk about girls' sports, let's not let the world force us into these shallow categories that have been dividing us. This is not about hatred. It's about fairness. It's not about cruelty. It's about reality. And it's not about abandoning compassion. It's about refusing to make compassion dishonest. Girls deserve to compete in a fair category. Parents deserve to advocate for their daughters, schools deserve clear standards, and coaches deserve policies that make sense. Every student involved deserves to be treated with dignity. That's not radical, it's reasonable, and it's biblical. Do justice, love kindness, walk humbly. If we abandon the truth, we will lose justice. If we abandon compassion, we lose our witness. And if we abandon humility, we We become just another angry tribe that's screaming for power. So here's the challenge today. Before you speak on this issue, check your heart. Are you defending fairness or are you just enjoying the fight? Are you really coming at this from a position of trying to protect girls or are you using them to win a political argument? Are you showing compassion or are you using compassion as an excuse to deny the truth? Which side of that are you on? Are you speaking with courage? Or are you just repeating the slogans that your site handed to you? People of God are called to be different. We should be able to say the hard things without becoming hard people. We should be able to defend what is true without being cruel. We should be able to protect girls' sports without having to humiliate confused kids. We should be able to look at this culture and say, No, fairness matters, biology matters, and the truth matters. But then we should also be able to look at every person involved and say, but you also matter too. That's the difference. So in a nutshell, yes, protect girls' sports. Yes, tell the truth. Yes, defend fairness. Yes, resist the pressure to pretend reality is whatever the culture says it is this week. But do it all with clean heart and clean hands. Do it all with humility. Do it as someone who knows that every person in this debate. Will one day stand before God just like you will. The question today is not whether truth matters or whether people matter. Both matter. If we abandon the truth, again, we lose justice, and if we abandon compassion, we lose our witness. We don't ever want to lose our witness. All right, before we wrap up for the day, go back to the passage for Romans for for a quick little recap. You know, the the world and and and both of these topics go hand in hand. The world keeps trying to convince us that humanity can just be divided into good people and bad people. ⁓ but the gospel tells us something completely different. That there are only sinners. We all are in the same group. We are all sinners. Now, some are still searching, some have been redeemed by grace. But none of us can boast. That's why I say ground is level at the foot of the cross. No one stands taller, no one earns a better place. We all come the same way, broken, needing mercy, and finding grace in Jesus Christ. So today, before you judge someone else, remember what God has done for you. Before you point out another person's failures, thank God for the grace He's poured into your own life. Because that grace that saved you is grace that gives hope to the world. As always, guys, remember get in your Bibles, say your prayers, love one another, and tell the truth. God bless.