Latest / Beliefs, Ballots, And BullDawgs / Monday June 22, 2026
Transcript
- Greg: Hey, good morning, everybody. It is Monday, june twenty second, twenty twenty six. I'm your host, Greg Miller. That's Max, and this is Beliefs, Ballots, and Bulldogs. The ⁓ the theme of the day is What has your attention has you? The passages from the book of Colossians, chapter three, verses one and two. Since then you have been raised with Christ. Set your heart on things above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your mind on things above, not on earthly things. The question for us to all ask ourselves today is what are you looking at? Not physically, but spiritually, mentally, and emotionally. What are you looking at? Every day, every day we are choosing what gets our attention. And what gets our attention usually gets our affection. And what gets our affection will absolutely influence our actions. And and Paul doesn't start here with with behavior. Paul starts with with identity. If you have been raised in Christ, then live differently, think differently, focus differently. The world says, look here. Paul says, look higher. We have and this is such a common theme. We we I feel like we talk about it on it every episode, but we we've become a culture that's just so obsessed with immediate things and It's breaking news and it's constant outrage and political fires everywhere. Social media is a nightmare. Celebrity drama, fear and anxiety rule the world. And we are we are all day long consuming information and yet somehow feeling less peaceful, less hopeful, less connected, less joyful, and less like we know what's going on, even though we consume information all day. The the problem is no longer. people that are uninformed. It's people that are misinformed. And the idea here is not so much that we don't have the ability to focus on the good things. It's just that we choose to focus on the wrong things. This is as I was coming through this and I can't take credit for this line, but it it's it it just hit home with me. It's it was you can't spend all day staring at chaos and expect to have peace. Raise your hand if you might be guilty of that. I ⁓ this one hit home for me, no lie. You can't spend all day scrolling through, you know, the the personal drama of your social network and the friends and family you know and all the stuff they're going through. You you can't sit there and scroll through X and and get all the political fire and heat and bullets flying back and forth. You can't sit there all day long focusing on that and expect to have peace in your life. Every day we are we are bombarded with with people and things that are just begging for our attention. It's news outlets, politicians, advertisers, social media influencers, everybody, because these days attention is power. The the battle for your mind at the deepest levels begins with the battle for your attention. If you're not if you're not intentional about the things you choose to focus on and you're not really careful about it, the the world will decide What sort of things will occupy your thoughts? Paul is not telling us here in Colossians, Paul is not telling us to ignore reality. That's that's not the point at all. He's simply saying, don't be consumed with temporary things. And this is this is somewhat of a repetitive message. We have we have been talking about this in some of our previous episodes. Don't be consumed by temporary things. There's there's a difference. You have to focus on and be aware of the temporary things, but we cannot be consumed by them. You know, Paul is telling us that absolutely Christians should know what's happening in this world, but we shouldn't allow the world to dictate our perspective. Being informed is great, being consumed is dangerous. What occupies most of your thoughts right now? What's consuming your attention? Give that some thought. Lighten up the mood a little bit. We got ⁓ 75 days until we kick it off between the hedges. And there's there's a good list of 75s, but but for me, this was an easy one. I gotta go with double J Jonas Jennings, ⁓ big offensive lineman out of the Atlanta area. Jonas was in school the same time I was, and if you know anything about You know, big time ⁓ SEC institutions. I mean, back then in Athens there were probably 35,000 students on campus, but somehow or another, big Jonas Jennings as as as an all-American offensive tackle, as a guy who was undoubtedly going to be an NFL draft pick, he somehow was in my pod and he and I crossed paths repeatedly for a couple of years. And I gotta give Jonas props, man. That that dude, and look, I'm not trying to name drop Jonas and I are not friends. We never were friends. But that dude smiled at me, dapped me up, had a little conversation with me every time we passed each other in the hall, before or after any classes we shared together. Jonas Jennings was just one of those guys that no matter how big a deal he was on campus, he was just a good dude through it through. And and you could swear that that 6'4 mountain of a man was sitting next to me and he didn't think there was any difference between the two of us. I was a college student at the University of Georgia just like he was. He just happened to play between the hedges on Saturday and go on to make a little money in the NFL. And the other reason we giving Jonas a shout out is Double J still a coach on the squad and and I absolutely love Kirby has done a tremendous job, obviously starting with himself of of bringing home some old school dogs that that know what it's like to bleed red and black. And look, it's a wins and losses world. And and I'm not saying because they went to the University of Georgia makes them any better of a coach. But I can tell you, when it comes down to crunch time on Saturdays, I enjoy seeing some guys that wore the uniform now on the sidelines coaching. ⁓ In keeping with the theme of today, we're gonna talk a bit a little bit about something I've been wrestling with here, and it's not letting fear become your faith. And that's it's a little tricky, but let me hear me out. Follow through on this. It's you know, we're all anxious, we're all tired, we're we're all a little bit of. have a little bit of anger in us. ⁓ and it's just because we we feel the instability all around us. The the economy is shaky, the country's unstable, ⁓ politicians are all corrupt, the world is dangerous, and as for me and and anybody that's got got parent ⁓ as a parent, like we just know it that our kids are growing up in total chaos. And and make no mistake about it, this is this is not just a political or social issue. This is this is a spiritual issue. I was reading something earlier that a recent poll found that most Americans, when asked, are they they will readily admit that they believe that core freedoms like freedom of speech, voting rights, freedom of religion and and all of the things that that we all believe to be essential to our nation's identity, there's a good chunk of us that that really believe that those freedoms are currently under threat. You know, I I think I read a something where about nine out of ten Americans see see voting and free speech as central to America. But only about a third believe that our voting system is actually secure. So if you got 90% that said this is crucial, but only about 35% saying we believe in the system, that's a problem. And anxiety is not just political. I think I read the American Psychiatric Association ha has a mental health poll that they're saying like 62% of Americans are stressed out and anxious just about day-to-day life and paying bills and things of that nature. And I mean, that is more than half the country that is. That is readily admitting to being uncomfortable, anxious, and a little bit scared. And we can't live by fear. In the book of Psalms, chapter 46, verses 1 and 2, it says, God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble. Therefore, we will not fear through the earth gives way. We cannot fear earthly things. That's the message. Not that there's nothing wrong, not that everything's fine, and and certainly not saying, hey, ignore the headlines. The message is simple. Even when the world around you shakes, God doesn't. Three points we we we always try to kind of consolidate things. Fear makes everything look bigger than God. Fear is a very, very powerful emotion. It is a very, very powerful feeling that can absolutely spin out of control on you. And in the world we live in, the the news is loud, your your bills are real, culture is changing every day, and it's hard to keep up. The political temperature is as high as I could possibly ever imagine it. But as Christians, we're not called to deny these things. We're not called to deny trouble and put our head in the sand and pretend like these things don't happen. We just deny that trouble gets the final word. We know there's more to the story. The the second point here, and this is one I think this kind of hits home a little bit for me, ⁓ and it's something we all see. Outrage isn't courage. A lot of people, especially since social media, the the keyboard warriors are are are everywhere. People seem to think that being mad and being being offended gives you some sort of power that maybe because you're hurt, mad, or offended, it's because you're standing on the truth. And I think a lot of these people just like confrontation. They just, because of the the nature of the society we live in, people are just addicted to to agitation. And you know, as Christians, we we need to be bold, we need to be convicted in standing for what we believe, but we don't need to be constantly frantic and we don't need to be looking for opportunities to engage. We just need to take them when God opens that door. And then the third point, you know, the counterpoint to outrage isn't courage. Well, peace doesn't have to be weakness. Just because you stay quiet, just because you bite your tongue, just because you choose not to pick a fight or engage in a fight, it's not weakness. Peace doesn't always mean passivity. It just means you can tell the truth, protect your family, vote your values, work hard, and still sleep at night because God is not pacing heaven. Wondering what's going to happen next on the in in this world. You know, we we all focus on the wrong things from time to time. And that's that's what this is telling. The whole message of today's today's passage is to focus on the right things, focus on the eternal things and the heavenly things. Yes, we we must care about religious liberty. We must care about freedom of speech. We've got to work on fixing this culture that we're trying to raise our kids in. But If if our faith only shows up as panic and anger and suspicion, then then we're not truly showing the world what Christ wants us to show. We're just showing another political tribe, and that is nowhere near what Christ is calling us to do. So today I'm asking you, don't don't let fear become your faith. Don't let politics become your peace. Don't let the algorithm become your shepherd and control everything you consume. The world may shake and and Lord knows headlines may scream at you from time to time. The culture's gonna continue to drift, but we'll find our way back. But God is still our refuge and our strength, and God, even in this time, is a very, very present help in times of trouble. Y'all know how we close it out here, as always, guys. Get in your Bible, say your prayers, love one another, and tell the truth. God bless.