Fearlessly Courageous
Desk of Dennis Piller
7 17 2026
The Gospel According to Outrage – Who’s Really Discipling Us?
You know, after writing the first part of this series, I couldn’t get one question out of my mind.
If most people genuinely love their country, why does it feel like we’re becoming enemies?
Please, please…don’t tune me out here. There is a powerful stalker dividing us. Please Listen.
I don’t believe most Americans wake up in the morning looking for someone to hate. I think most people simply want to raise their families, do an honest day’s work, enjoy their grandchildren, worship freely, and leave this world a little better than they found it. So how did we get here? How did we become so suspicious of one another?
Why does it seem like every conversation has the potential to become an argument?
I’ve lived long enough to remember a different America. We certainly had our disagreements. I lived through Vietnam. I watched the Civil Rights movement unfold. And yes there were moments of people marching with clubs and guns through the streets of tampa. It was terrifying or a 19 yrs old as I help a gun to protect our families business. But it calmed down and people did start talking reasonably. I remember Watergate. There were heated debates around all of those issues. People had strong opinions then too. But somewhere along the way, disagreement has turned into something much deeper. We didn’t just start questioning another person’s opinion or views on this subject or another. We started questioning their heart. Their motives. Their character. Somewhere we stopped saying, “I think you’re wrong,” and started saying, “You’re the problem.”
I know that didn’t happen overnight. But a thought crossed my mind that honestly made me uncomfortable. What if we’ve been discipled…and didn’t even realize it?
Jesus told His disciples, “Follow Me.” A disciple is simply someone who spends enough time with another person that they begin thinking like them, talking like them, seeing the world like them, and eventually living like them. That’s how discipleship works. The more time we spend with someone, the more they shape us.
Now let me ask you something I’ve been asking myself. Who gets most of my attention every day? Who has the loudest voice in my life? Who is shaping the way I think about people I disagree with? Who is teaching me what to fear?
Who is telling me who my enemies are? Those aren’t political questions.
They’re spiritual questions.
When I really stopped to think about it, I realized something. I probably spend far more time listening to news, commentators, podcasts, social media, YouTube videos and articles than I do quietly listening to Jesus. Ouch that hurt. That convicted me. Not because those things are always wrong, but because every one of them is trying to shape the way I think. Every one of them wants my attention. Every one of them wants my loyalty. And every one of them knows that keeping me emotionally stirred up keeps me coming back tomorrow.
Have you ever noticed that?
Calm doesn’t sell. Contentment doesn’t attract viewers. Forgiveness doesn’t go viral. But outrage does. Fear does. Conflict does.
And before long, we don’t even realize it’s happening. We begin expecting the worst from people. We assume motives. We assign labels before we’ve even listened. We stop asking questions because we’ve already decided who they are.
I’ve caught myself doing it. Maybe you have too.
Then I started thinking about Jesus again. He never seemed to begin with labels.
Everyone else saw a tax collector. Jesus saw Matthew.
Everyone else saw a traitor. Jesus saw someone who could write one of the four Gospels.
Everyone else saw a Samaritan woman with a broken past. Jesus saw someone thirsty for living water.
Everyone else saw Zacchaeus as a crook. Jesus saw a man whose heart could still be changed.
He had this remarkable ability to see what everyone else missed.
He saw people.
Sometimes I wonder if we’ve become so busy defending truth that we’ve forgotten the Person who called Himself “the Truth.”
Jesus never asked me to win every argument. He asked me to love my neighbor.
He never told me to defeat everyone who disagreed with me.
He told me to love my enemies.
He never said people would know I belonged to Him because I had the strongest opinions.
He said they would know because of my love. My fruit.
That made me stop and think.
Am I the only one who doesn’t want to reach the end of my life known as someone who won arguments but lost relationships? I don’t want my grandchildren remembering me as a man who was always angry. I want them to remember someone who loved Jesus, loved people, stood for truth, but never forgot kindness. I want my convictions to make me more like Christ, not less.
Maybe that’s the real battle.
Maybe Satan doesn’t care whether we’re red or blue nearly as much as he cares whether we’re offended. I have spoken a number of times about picking up the Spirit of Offense. And I don’t have to sell you on the fact, that spirit does not come from Jesus.
You know that offended people stop listening. Right? They stop loving. They stop seeing people through the eyes of Christ. And once that happens, the divide almost takes care of itself. Look, my heart is breaking over what is happening to OUR AMERICA.
- Several scriptures state that God establishes, removes, and grants authority to human leaders.
- In John 19:11 Jesus told Pontius Pilate, who was an evil governor, that his authority came from God the Father. What?
- Daniel 2:21 says: “He changes times and seasons; he deposes kings and raises up others.” What?
- Romans 13:1: “Let everyone be subject to the governing authorities, for there is no authority except that which God has established. The authorities that exist have been established by God.”
- Daniel 4:17: “…the Most High is sovereign over all kingdoms on earth and gives them to anyone he wishes…”
- Proverbs 8:15: “By ME… kings reign, and rulers decree justice.”
Doesn’t that mean we should be praying for our country and the leaders the majority elected? Regardless of red or blue.
Every 4 to 8 years the White House changes colors. So then the other side will endure for a season. Why are we not praying for these men and trusting God for the outcome. We pray for people at church…whose responsibility is the outcome…the healing?
I can’t heal America. Neither can you. But I can ask the Holy Spirit to keep my own heart soft.
I can refuse to let politics become my identity. I can disagree without becoming disagreeable.
I can remember that before someone is a Democrat or a Republican…before they’re conservative or liberal…they’re a person Christ loved enough to die for.
That changes everything… Or at least…it should.
Question: If someone spent one week listening to my conversations, would they conclude that Jesus is shaping my heart…or that someone else is?
Question: Have I allowed any political opinion, personal offense, or cultural issue to become more important to me than loving people the way Christ loved me?
“What part of this hit home for you this morning? What are you carrying today that needs prayer? If you’d like, send me a prayer request here. Let’s invite the Holy Spirit in together. (where two are gathered.) You are not walking alone. Just hit reply…
I read every response.”
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VXIBP2BdYR8
Only Jesus Casting Crowns
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