Tim Tebow & Demi-Leigh Tebow | Stop Chasing Validation That’ll Never Fill You

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0:39Hey guys, it's Ed. I rarely do this. As you know, 99.9 % of my content is free. But once a year, I do something where I gather a very small group of people in my house. I've done it for two years in a row now. And I'm going to do it again this year. If you go to maxout2026.com, I'm going to do an experience in my home where I'm going to take you through how to make 2026 the best year of your life. All of the tactics and strategies that I use to plan and organize my own life in detail. same time all of the mental rehearsal and visualization techniques that people pay me hundreds and millions of dollars a year to teach them i will be teaching that day as well and the other years i've done it i've had groups of about 25 or 30 i've decided this year i want to shrink the size of the group so that i can get more one-on-one time with each of you i want to keep the groups to 12 or 15 it's a chance to spend a day with me in my home lunch one-on-one time and group time and it's not cheap so if it's something you can't afford please don't get yourself in any financial trouble or debt doing so but if it's something you can afford to do go to maxout2026.com, and I'm looking forward to having you in my home with me very soon for an amazing day, a life-changing day.

1:40God bless you.

1:46This is The Ed Myron Show. All right, welcome back to the show, everybody. So I've done about 800 interviews, and it's not often that I start out by saying, here's who these two people are. He is the greatest college football player of all time, in my opinion, and she was Miss Universe. So that's where we're starting. Beyond that, let me tell you who these two people really are. I've got to know the gentleman to my left pretty well over the last few years. And he's a five times bestselling author. He's an analyst on television for football with ESPN, an incredible philanthropist. He is, in my opinion, the greatest college football player of all time.

2:22And I can honestly tell you in knowing him, none of those are the things that come to mind when I think about him. When I think about him, I think about somebody who's a great champion for Jesus Christ. He's a great man of God. And when you meet him, he's such a good dude. You're thinking there's got to be a chink in the armor there somewhere. And as I've got to know him, he's even better person than my expectations. And I admire him and I love him very much. He's somebody that I actually look up to in many ways in my life. And in his beautiful wife's case, she has unbelievable work she's been doing.

2:51She's got a book that we're going to talk about in a minute. She's a brand new mother. She is very involved in the Tim Tebow foundation, which is a foundation. I can't get off my mind after some of the things he shared with me, the photos, et cetera. And they're just a power couple. They're just two people that I really look up to. They're also neighbors of mine now, Demi and Tim Tebow. Welcome to the show. Thank you so much, brother. So appreciate you and your heart. And thanks for having us. And I love the last time we got together and got to talk and share. And I'm excited about this time and so excited Demi can be with us.

3:23I am too, man. I got to tell you, let me tell you about their books first. Cause you need to go get these books. Cause number one, he's written five bestsellers. You know that you have five of these? And this one's coming out on November 2nd, depending on when you watch it. But the title of the book is look again. We're going to talk about that today. You taking a look again, recognize your worth, renew your hope and run with confidence. And in Demi's case, my wife's read your book and it's a devotional is what it really is. A hundred day devotional, correct? Her book is called knowing who you are because of who God is a hundred days to unbreakable faith.

3:52That's kind of where I want to start. I want to start with you. The more I've traveled and done speaking over the years, you meet people and they don't all feel so great about themselves. And I feel like the world sometimes can lie to us about who we really are. Instagram, social media, the messages you get. What do you think, Demi, of all the work you've been doing with this and probably the thousands of messages, particularly for women, like what's some of the lies that they buy into about who they really are that causes them to think they're not qualified to do something great in their life.

4:21Yeah. And you know what? I think it's a question that I speak out of experience. You know, I'm so honored to have been able to carry the title as Miss Universe and to represent my home country. And it was one of my life's greatest blessings. But I think that came with confusing my platform for my purpose. And you think that the moment that had the biggest impact on my life was the moment that I got that crown, right? The moment that you get that achievement, that's supposed to set you up, that's supposed to make you feel amazing. But I think the moment that impacted me most was the moment I handed that crown back.

4:55And I walked off that stage, you know, you come at the end of the year, you have to crown the next very worthy, very rightful winner. And I walked off that stage at night feeling like I forgot something, like I left something very important behind, kind of like how you get to the airport and you're like, do I have my passport? Is it there, you know? And it took me a year or two to really figure out what that was. And I realized that the moment I handed over that crown to the very rightful next winner, I also handed back my identity, my worth, my value, because I had attached that to that crown.

5:25And, you know, you might never have won a sparkly crown or, you know, anything to that extent before. But I think there is a time in all of our lives where we attach so much worth and value to maybe being a mom, maybe being a parent. And then you become an empty nester and you face with that same question. And maybe you're leaving that corner office for a retirement package and you're faced with that what's next question. And this book is really based on the truths that God tells us about who we are because of who he is. And as image bearers of God, as we learn in Genesis, that is something that we get to hold on to.

6:03And I have found that when we hold on to who he is, it shows us who we are and it makes our faith unbreakable. It makes our purpose more clear and our identity secure. It's interesting because both of your books are sort of heading in the same direction about this identity thing. Obviously, in your case, too. I mean, everywhere you go, you're Tim Tebow, right? I mean, and I know you were raised in a particular way. But let's just be honest. Everywhere you go, you're getting reinforced because of football, because you're on TV. Even maybe because of the foundation, which is something you still do.

6:36It's service. And in your book, you talk about, I want to just unbreak this right in the beginning because it's powerful about royalty and our real identity being grounded in this royalty concept. So first, have you struggled with that ever? Of course. And then what is this concept of royalty in the book? I've struggled so much and so many times in my life of also putting my identity in the wrong things, wrong places, putting worth in the wrong places of losing perspective. What does perspective mean? just comes from a Latin word meaning to look through. And I couldn't look through what all the world was telling me and to what God had for me and how God saw me.

7:13And look again, really is a wake up call for all of us, starting with myself to fight the lie that some lives matter less, to embrace the truth that human worth is fixed, that we don't get to pick and choose, that we don't get to pick and choose who's valuable, right? And we don't get to pick and choose when they're valuable. And our value isn't based on the things that we do for society that are valuable to them. Our value is based on God creating us in His image, on purpose and for a purpose, in love, by love and for love. And talking about royalty, why it was such a big burden, blessing and privilege for me to write this was started about four years ago.

8:03And I knew I was supposed to. We were at Night to Shine about four years ago. Can you tell them what Night to Shine is just really quickly? Because if they don't know, if you want to get, if you want a good cry, I mean. I was just starting to get much of what I'm thinking about it. Just tell them what that is. I didn't mean to interrupt you, but I don't know what that means. It's a worldwide celebration for individuals with special needs. And this was at the back end of COVID. And so we were having something called a shine through so we could still celebrate all of the kings and queens and their family and loved ones.

8:34And so there's this red carpet drive-through that they're all driving through. And a lot of them were in Corvettes. And there was this red Corvette that was pulling by and all of the team and so many volunteers are out there cheering and cheering and cheering. And there's a young girl with blonde hair and a red dress and a red Corvette driving by super, super slow. And we're going crazy. And she's just cheering and cheering and cheering. and you're just beaming with joy and the car pulls by. And I didn't even know that our team in the churches were working together to have bumper stickers on the back of the car.

9:11But when the car drove by, I saw on the back of the car and it said, royalty on board. And I thought, that's it. That's it. And so I really started to dive in after that point of looking into to what does it mean to be made in the image of God, in His image and in His likeness. And we see in Genesis that it's mentioned in Genesis 1, 26 and 27. It's mentioned in Genesis 5 after the fall. It's mentioned in Genesis 9. And so obviously this is a so important concept for us to understand. Really growing up, I heard it talked about in three phases that it was relational, rational, or functional. Relational meaning that God created us to be relational with Him and with one another.

9:54rational to be logical and thinkers and process information and then functional to rule and reign and you know subdue the earth and I think all three of those are part of it but I started to get so emotional and sad and frustrated because I thought well that can't be it because what about all of those with special needs 16 % of the world's population has a special need or disability What about all of those boys and girls, men and women that maybe can't do that to the same extent? Are they made less than God's image? And I would say absolutely not. So we started to dive into it to really understand what it means.

10:33And when you really look into the term in the ancient Near East, the image of God, you see that it was a term that an Assyrian king in the 1500 BCs would be referred to as the image of Bel, a God that they believed in, or an Egyptian king, image of Ra, a God that they believed in or the Greeks, you know, a living image of Zeus. And so you really look at it. And when in the ancient Near East, when they would have read Genesis one, and they would have seen that we are made in God's image and likeness, what they, what I believe that they would have understand it is a Royal worth statement because it is a statement that they would have seen that is used for Kings and for monarchs.

11:11And now that the Bible is saying, this is used for all of humanity. This is you. You have seen this for kings and for monarchs, but this is for all of humanity. This is how much I love you. That the statement that you will see on statues for these kings and for these monarchs, no, this is how much I love you. And then when we fast forward to the New Testament and we understand the life of Jesus, that Jesus lived the perfect life, a life that we couldn't live but die to death, that we deserve to die and took our place. And that when we accept that free gift of eternal life, we get adopted into the family of God as sons and daughters of the king.

11:48Then what are we? Royalty. Sons and daughters of the king. And my heart for a look again is that we would truly look again to understand our worth and our value. That we would fight the lie that some lives matter less. And then we would act on that. That we would truly act on that. That when we would leave and we would go places, we wouldn't look past people. We would see people. 67 times in scripture, it tells us that Jesus saw. He would see people and he would meet their needs. And he didn't look past. He didn't look beyond. He didn't see the vulnerable and say they're less valuable. He saw the vulnerable and cared for them and met their needs.

12:27And he didn't care as much about comfort as he did compassion. And we live in a society, and I have failed at this. So many times I have fought for that next thing to really just be more comfortable. And I think as a society, we have to fight that comfort and step into a life of compassion. What does compassion mean? It means to care so much for someone you're willing to suffer with them. It is not a comfortable place that you'd be willing to do that. But when you see people that you know are valuable to God and they're vulnerable, then you're going to act. But if we don't see them as valuable, we won't act.

13:01and I believe too many times that me and so many others don't see people the way that we should and we have to stop and look again first at ourselves and the worth and the value that God has given us and then the worth and the value that God has put on all of humanity and when we see people that way we will act because could you imagine Ed if if I lost a penny and I said hey Ed we got to tear all this apart because I lost a penny you look at me and be like like, Timmy, you're an idiot. Like, who cares? It's a penny. But if Demi lost her ring, we would stop and we would tear everything apart. But we treat people as pennies, not diamonds.

13:41But yet every person is so much more valuable than any diamond that has ever been created. This episode is brought to you by Progressive Insurance. Do you ever think about switching insurance companies to see if you could save some cash? Progressive makes it easy. Just drop in some details about yourself and see if you're eligible to save money when you bundle your home and auto policies. The process only takes minutes, and it could mean hundreds more in your pocket. Visit Progressive.com after this episode to see if you could save. Progressive Casualty Insurance Company and Affiliates. Potential savings will vary.

14:15Not available in all states. Thursday night football is on, and it's only on Prime Video. This week, it's an old-school rivalry as the Las Vegas Raiders collide with the Denver Broncos. It's going to be a showdown with the Raiders versus Broncos at Mile High Stadium. This game is going to show you what football is all about. Rivalries, breakout stars, and the kind of intensity that will remind you of why we all love the game. Can the Las Vegas Raiders find a way to stop the Denver Broncos offense, which is one of the most dynamic ones in the NFL? Coverage begins at 7 p.m. Eastern with football's best party, TNF Tonight, presented by Verizon.

14:53Not a prime member, not a problem. Simply sign up for a 30-day free trial. It's the Raiders and the Broncos, Thursday at 7 p.m. Eastern, only on Prime Video. Restrictions apply. See Amazon.com slash Amazon Prime for details. You were at a talk that I attended for a group I'm on the board of, and you were talking about MVPs, like you've won MVPs. And you're like, really, I want to help the most vulnerable people going down this road. So I want to flip this just for a second, Demi, and let me tell you where I'm going. By the way, the clips he's talking about are his foundation sponsors. He didn't take credit for this because he doesn't take credit, but his foundations created these events that he's referencing.

15:33And when you watch these clips, you'll see these people that many people don't see. Now, all of a sudden being seen and they're being celebrated and the looks on their precious faces. It makes you very emotional. And I have a theory that a lot of times when we get emotion, it's because we see something in someone else that we know exists within us that maybe we're not utilizing. We're not releasing. We're not serving. And so I want to flip it to you, Demi, because I think it's obvious to some extent that many people may overlook someone with a disability or that has autism or something like that and maybe not see them as they should.

16:10But there's a lot of people that don't see themselves as they should. and it's not obvious. It's invisible. And everywhere I go, I meet people who they just, they don't feel good about themselves. They carry some shame, maybe from their upbringing or a sin they've committed or a mistake or a relationship that didn't work out. A lot of people listening to this right now are like, okay, I heard all his Bible stuff over there. I'm a believer or I'm not, right? But I know how I feel about myself and I don't feel secure about myself. I don't feel confident in myself. Do you believe that that's because they don't know where they really come from?

16:47And if they really were understood that they've got a father in heaven that loves them, as Tim just described, is that completely it? Or would you give a slightly different answer to somebody? And I think this is men and women, but would you agree with me that maybe to some extent there's more pressure on women to think they have to be a particular way in order to be qualified, in order to make a difference? Just wonder what you think about that. Well, as a believer, I think my opinion maybe looks very similar to Tim's because I feel like that's the place that in my faith where I truly got a secure identity, an identity that's unbreakable, an identity that's unshakable, no matter life circumstances.

17:24You know, I think a big part of our perception of ourself is often formed by our life circumstances. And that's difficult because our life circumstances usually look like a roller coaster. And then when we attach our confidence, our worth, our value to our life circumstances, you know, that sends our identity on a roller coaster too. That's not secure. That's shakable. when that corner office door closes you know it shakes up our identity it doesn't make us feel good when that thing that we thought gave us worth and value is no longer there we may no longer feel worthy or or valuable and so um for me personally I I really had to take time and step back and and look at well what is where can I root my identity in where it's not going to be based on something that's temporary, that was never meant to last for all of eternity.

18:19And for me personally, Ed, I haven't been able to find an answer other than in my faith and in who God is. And as a believer, I know, and I fully believe that I don't have to earn that worth because that worth was given by what Jesus did for me on my behalf. And that is where my worth can be rooted in. Same here, by the way. I want to make sure everybody in my audience knows that. Same here. When I was a little boy, I think a lot of people conflate recognition or significance with love. Absolutely. In my case, anyway, when I was a little boy, when I would feel loved by my dad is when I did something good.

18:57I brought home A's and then he'd give me significance and recognition that felt like love to me. Or if I hit a home run in baseball. Okay. And I think as we grow up, we often start to think we have to get attention or recognition. and it's an artificial, shallow feeling of love where when we get it from our father in heaven, we don't have to earn it. He did it before we did anything. He loved us. Jesus came down to this earth, took on sin, and he loved us why we were yet sinners. We didn't do anything. He did everything and he did it for us. And getting ready for a look again, we got to study with so many Old Testament, ancient Near East scholars.

19:39And one of them, Dr. Carmen Imes, really impacted my view because she really believes that when we always say we're image bearers, it's wrong. We're not image bearers, we're image beings. That when you bear something, you can also put it down. But we can't ever put down the image of God in our life. So we aren't called to bear God's image. We're called to be God's image in whatever we do, in everything we do. We will never be made less of God's image based on what we do. Now, obviously we should try to go live out in a way that honors him and loves people, makes a difference. But no matter what you've done, if you're watching, you're listening, you are no less made in God's image based on whatever that has happened to you.

20:26It's so good. I think what happens is that I think actually God, we certainly don't want to make mistakes or sins or mistakes, but when we do, God actually wants to use them in the service of somebody. He does. He does. I have to say all the time, you're most qualified to help the person you used to be. My dad helped thousands of people get sober. Why? Because at one time he was an alcoholic. If you're a person who used to not have hope and now you've got hope, you can help hopeless people. If you used to not know Jesus and you do now, you can help all those people. Your company, now you know a lot about mortgages or insurance or how to put together an air conditioner and you use it.

21:00You can help all these people that need it. You're most qualified to help those you used to be. Here's the rub though. The hard part is that when you live in this world today and all of this is true and whether someone's a believer listening to this or not, you should just know that there's a God in heaven that loves you more than you can imagine. Right. And that's just a comforting thing to know. But in the world today, if we're being real, it's so difficult to not compare yourself to others. Even the two of you, you set a pretty high bar, man. I mean, you said a high bar. And so wanting, I mean, our camera people, it's, it's, it's even for me, like, I want to make a difference in the world, but I'm not you.

21:37And I think people are on Instagram. I'm not as beautiful as her or everyone's on a yacht and driving a Lamborghini online. It seems like, and I'm at home just struggling with my problems. Comparison is a huge challenge in the world today because it's right in our pocket. It's on our phone. We're constantly being forced to compare ourselves or we're not smart enough or our setback. What would you say to somebody who's just in this hyper, and you know what I'm talking about, hyper comparison mode in their life? What's the solution to that or the answer? Well, I'd want you to know that that has been me far too many times.

22:09And comparison kills all joy. If you live a life in comparison, it will absolutely steal and kill your joy. And that's what the enemy wants. We know his goal is to steal, kill, and destroy. And I think part of how he does that is with comparison that, oh, you should be doing this. You should be on that team. You should have this podcast. You should be that. You should have that crown. You should be this. And, you know, I heard a stat several years ago that 12 % of our daily thoughts are spent in some form of comparison. Well, that's a huge number. That's a huge number. that means if if we're spending 12 of our time comparing ourselves with other people or other things or other stuff or other positions then so much of our day is getting killed and by the way when you go look at instagram or tiktok or all these other things there's a reason why filters are are are so popular it's because you're comparing your real life to somebody else's fake life and that is going to highlight real and that is going to kill your joy it is going to kill absolutely kill your joy.

23:12And I know I have been there. I try to fight it. I constantly have to fight it in so many areas because right when we, you know, turn on a game, you think, man, I could be doing that. I could do this or I could do that. And it just absolutely zaps your joy and it'll zap your peace. Because I also believe when we're comparing ourselves to someone else or position or thing that they have, what we're really saying, even though it's, we're not saying it, it's implied. We're really saying to God, God, I'm not grateful for where I am because I wish I was there. And I don't believe that you can really spend time comparing yourself and being grateful for your blessings at the same time.

23:52And I'll just say, Ed, you know what? Something I've realized is looking at social media, having that, you know, in the palm of your hand every single day, anytime, right? You're essentially allowing people you don't know, who don't love you don't miss your care for you who don't have your best interests at heart you're allowing them to speak into your life and um i don't even think that we realize it you know whether they're directly speaking at you or not you're allowing them to have an influence in your life to speak into your life and i think um i've had to really focus on who are the people that i am going to listen to who are the people that i'm going to surround myself that's going to point me back to truth when the enemy wants to make me doubt when he's planting seeds of of doubt ultimately do you have that for sure yeah because you come from this world i was thinking about it when i was prepping last night i'm like like you were miss universe miss south africa you're literally in a contest to some extent of comparison like that's the world you come from right so how did you i mean it's like the perfect example i also find that like when something's good to happen for me you've messaged me before.

25:00I'm rooting for other people too. How do you do that? Where you're like, I simultaneously want to run my race, but I'm also rooting for you to do well. Did you have that where you're in the pageants? I'm just curious. Like that's a very difficult, you're the ultimate competition. I mean, I definitely had both sides of it for sure. Yeah. I mean, it was a competition. I think I competed with 95 other contestants, the most beautiful, the most elite, the most, the tallest, you know, from all over the world. And it was very, very competitive. I mean, I stopped speaking my first language for three months just in preparation for this pageant I wore high heels her first language is Afrikaans yes sounds nothing like English you know I went to these extents to to be able to compete to the highest extent and the highest level and you know there were definitely times where it was difficult where you definitely felt that competition where it was it was a little hard to be as nice to everybody else but I remember this moment um right before the pageant started we're backstage and it's dark and you're trying not to trip over all the cables and things and one of the other contestants just grabs me by the hand and goes hey if I don't win I hope you do and you know I think that was so beautiful because in that moment it just reminded me that we are called to strive for excellence you know I think the bible tells that so many times over and over we are called to strive for excellence um to live out our purpose but we can also value and root for other people that are doing the same and essentially i think it makes us better i do make us better when we can look at each other and learn from each other support each other cheer for each other iron sharpens iron sharpens another amen mic drop hosted by former navy seal mike ritland it's raw so you do four platoons and seven years of team three when you go to the jump team.