The Jeff Cavins Show (Your Catholic Bible Study Podcast) - Be Specific - A Key for Spiritual Growth (Virtues and Family)

Episode Date: January 5, 2024

How can you grow more in virtue? How can you be a better parent, spouse, or friend? Jeff Cavins shares how the practice of being specific can impact your growth in virtue and your role as a family member or friend. Using Scripture and personal wisdom, Jeff offers practical ways to get more specific. Snippet from the Show One of the greatest ways to love someone well is to listen to them well. Email us with comments or questions at [e-mail]. Text “jeffcavins” to 33-777 to subscribe and get Jeff’s shownotes delivered straight to your email! Or visit ascensionpress.com/thejeffcavinsshow for full shownotes!

Welcome to the Jeff Kaven Show, where we talk about the Bible, discipleship, and evangelization, putting it all together in living as activated disciples. This is Episode 357, Be Specific, a key for spiritual growth, Part 2, Virtues and Family. Welcome back to this two-part series. I think it's two-part series. Let's hope, huh? we're talking today about being specific when it comes to spiritual growth, knowing that we want to become more like Jesus, but it seems so big. Where do we start? How do we go about actually becoming like Jesus?

And one day people say, you know, you remind me of Jesus. That's the goal right there. And the big goal is that when it's all said and done, we would hear those words from the Lord, well done, good and faithful servant. done that's that's really that's really what we are looking forward to well done good and faithful son good and faithful daughter that is that's it right there in the first episode last session we started talking about the need to be specific if we do want to enjoy spiritual growth i gave you a quote to be honest i'm not sure who exactly is the one who came up with the

quote you maybe you can share that with me uh in the show notes uh if you if you're listening to this on Apple or Google, but be specific. And who was it? Because I actually have four or five sources that say it was this person. It was that person. It was, you know. And so I don't know, but I know it's good.

And here's the quote, nothing gets dynamic until it gets specific. That's what we talked about last lesson. Nothing, last session. Nothing gets dynamic until it gets, specific. You know, I was thinking about this between shows that in high school, I was a trackster. I was a runner. I was a sprinter. I ran 100, 220, and 440. And I was also a long jumper on the field events. And when it came to all of the track and field events, you know, there's

the shot put, there's the high jump, there's the pole vault, there's the mile, the 880, back then, now it's 800 meters. And so if I said, you know, I want to become the greatest runner, you know, in Minnesota back then, I couldn't be the greatest runner in Minnesota if I didn't become more specific. If I went up to the coach and said, I want to be the greatest runner in Minnesota, he'd say, in what events? Well, any of them, no, that's not how you become the best runner in Minnesota. and I'm not and wasn't but if I want to be the best runner I'm going to have to start to look at

the events and say you know what I think I need to work on the 100 and the 400 to 440 that's what I need to work on so it becomes dynamic at that point my practices are dynamic the track meats are dynamic my my intake of food and calories and water is dynamic the shoes that I by all flows into this dynamic movement because I was specific about the 100 yard dash. Forget the 440. That was hard anyway. But the 100 is what I'm going to do. And in the spiritual life, you can't just say, well, I'm going to be everything and I'm

going to be so good at everything in the spiritual life. Well, number one, the reason for that is that being good isn't the goal. Being good isn't the goal. Being like Jesus. is the goal. Becoming Christ-like is the goal. That's it right there. And so in order to do that, we have to start to become more specific. I'll give you another idea. When I was 26, I came up with this idea of the great adventure Bible study with the Bible timeline chart. And my goal was I wanted to understand how the whole Bible was put together. I wanted to read it in

chronological order, and I wanted to know where the books belong. Now, that's just one discipline within Christianity. And so what I did is I went after that like a tiger, and I thought, I need to be specific. I want to know how to read the Bible in chronological order. That was how specific I was. That fueled a dynamic movement in my life where I was moving. I was doing it. I was putting it to together. I was sharing it with other people. I was excited. I dreamt about it. I, I meditated upon it. Why? Because I was specific. And I ended up going home and I put together that Bible timeline chart and started to refine it and pray about it and read. Wow. So that's another example there that you might be able to come up with examples in your own life as well. Now, in the last session,

and I use Philippians 4-8, and I'll just riff off of that. We'll leave the starting blocks, if you will, on that. Paul gives some very specific things to think about. Your mind is so amazing. You can think about all kinds of stuff. You're created in the image and likeness of God. That means you can think about tomorrow, today, and yesterday, all in a minute. I don't think raccoons do that.

We can think about yesterday, tomorrow, and today. basically all at once. And while that is good, that can be a problem as well. Because what are you going to focus on? Are you going to focus on yesterday? Are you going to be specific about yesterday or tomorrow or today? This is the day the Lord has made. I will rejoice in it and be glad. Today is the day the Lord has made. So Paul says this. He says, finally, brethren, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is gracious, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things. So he gives you a list there. He says, you can think about a lot of stuff, but here's what

you need to think about. You need to think about what's true. Now, if your television habits are just marinating and things that are not true, or the next one, whatever is honorable, it's dishonorable, well, then you have to make the tough decision. I'm not going to do that. I'm not going to live my life that way because that is so broad and it's not specific as to who I want to become in Christ. Whatever is just, whatever is pure. Wow, if we live this way, whatever is lovely, whatever is gracious, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things. So with that scripture alone, you should be able to drill down specifically to the things you're not going to give yourself to and the things you are going to give

yourself to. I mean, look, we only have one life. We only have one life. We can do better than binge watching Pee-E-Herman. We can do better by disciplining ourselves for spiritual growth. Now, let's take a look at some of these areas. And I'm going to just give you some ideas that I have, some things that I'm working on and some things I'm not working on, but I know that people are working on them. We're just going to dip into some of these. So what we'll do is I'm going to take a break. And when we come back, the first one I'm going to tackle is listening more carefully to your spouse and children. That's specific. We'll talk a little bit about that. You're listening to the Jeff Kaven show. Hi, my name is Father Mike Schmitz. I want to let you know

about an exciting announcement that could revolutionize the way you listen to the Bible in the year and the catechism in the year. Ascension has released a new Bible and Catechism app called the Ascension app. Now, here's what you get. In this app, you get the entire text of the Great Adventure Bible. This is incredible. You also get the entire text of the catechism of the Catholic Church, as long with the Catechism in a year podcast and the Bible in your podcast and transcripts for each episode. If you're like, I'm tired of listening to that guy, I just want to read it. There's complete transcripts from each and every episode. episode. One thing that makes this app incredibly unique is that it includes special features

that make connections between the Bible and the catechism so crystal clear through color-coded references and all these links. The hyperlinks are amazing. I tried it out and I'm like, oh my gosh, it kind of has changed the way I read through the catechism, kind of changed the way I read through the Bible. These features will help you navigate the Bible and catechism even more seamlessly so you can get more out of your experience. Also, the app provides almost 1,000 answers to Bible questions. The people who listen to the Bible in the year, they wrote in with their questions. Almost a thousand answers, and those answers come in the form of audio clips, video clips, as well as resources excerpted from some of Ascans' published works. If you want to download

this app for free, super simple. Just go to the app store and search for Ascension app. I am telling you, if learning about the Bible and the catechism is important to you, then this app will change your life. Thanks for coming back. We are looking at being specific as a key. for spiritual growth, I know it to be true. I'm sure you do as well. Give me an email. How have you become specific in your life and what was the fruit? What was the outcome? My email is The Jeff Kaven Show at ascensionpress.com. And you can leave it right there in the comment section. Okay, so let's look at this. Listening more carefully to your spouse or children. Now, one of the big complaints that spouses have when they finally end up in retrovi or they end up in some kind of

counseling situation is he doesn't listen to me. Well, she doesn't listen to me either. I am listening to you don't look like it. Well, you don't either. Well, maybe you could look like it. Well, you could as well, you know, so they're locked up in things like this that you are not listening to me. and one of the things that I've heard from teenagers, I don't think I struggled with this, honestly, when I was in high school back a few years ago. But a lot of teens will say, my parents don't listen to me.

Now, sometimes that means they're not agreeing with me. It is. That's what it means sometimes, not all the time. But many times what teens are saying is, you're not communicating with me. You're thinking about something else. You're at work still. You're on that darn phone all the time.

I can't even talk to you and feel like I'm talking to you. You're not with me. So when it comes to a spouse and children, both will use this line that you're not listening to me. So if you want to grow in your spiritual life and you want your wife, your children to know, listen, honey, I'm taking you seriously. I don't have anything else going on in front of me. here. No phone in my hands. I want to hear you. There's nothing so frustrating as someone else having a phone in their hand and you're talking to them and they're actually texting while you're talking to them. You want to just throw up your hands and say, you know what? Forget it. Forget it. And a lot of

people do. And so some of the things that you could focus on and be specific to grow in the relationship with your spouse, is that when they are talking to you about something that they think is important, you might not, but they think it's important, you get rid of what's in front of you. Put the laptop down, close it, put the phone to the side, look them in the eye, and say, I'm here for you. I want to hear, what is it? What's going on? Don't change the subject. Don't one-up them and don't bring out their negative aspects that contribute to this conversation. You know what I mean? And so when it comes to listening more carefully to your spouse or your children, what are some specifics? Well, one specific is that I get rid of everything that's

getting in the way of our communication right now as we sit down to talk. That's specific. Another specific thing is to be able to repeat what they're saying to you, that you're hearing them, that they said, X, Y, Z, I hear that. And to be humble is specific when it comes to listening more carefully to your spouse or your, or your children. So there's a lot of things that you could put in here. You could be specific. You could be specific and say that last time we were talking about some of these things, do you feel that I was listening to you then? Was there anything that you felt I missed that I need to go back to? I really want to, I want to turn a leaf here. I want to hear you. So that is very, very important. Number four is, now this one is a kind of a bigger one,

but you can go down into specifics if you would like. And that is this. Number four, well, by the way, last week, you know, number one was Bible reading and study. Number two is prayer. And now we have listening more carefully. And number four is developing virtue. The area of developing virtue is so incredibly important because it is the virtues that really are carving us like a big pile of marble. And it's like God working on us. And we are developing in faith and hope. hope and charity and and so forth. And in what I do is I try to focus on one for a period of time. I want to be specific. I don't, this week, I don't want to wake up and say, you know, tomorrow, I'm going to grow in faith, hope, charity, justice, goodness, honesty, wisdom, prudence, fortitude, temperance, and modesty.

No, because you know what'll happen? Nothing. I can't focus. I'm not specific enough. It doesn't, it's not ringing in my heart enough. I almost sounded like an Irishman there. Hmm, where that came from? Well, I'm Irish and Scottish. Okay, so the virtues here, the moral virtues. The moral virtues are so important. Now, the theological virtues that you received at baptism are faith, hope, and charity. If you say, I don't have any faith, it's not true. If you're baptized, you do have a deposit of faith. Say, I don't have any hope. Yes, you do. Might be small, but you have it. Charity. Don't have charity. Yeah, you do. You do. You have faith, hope, and charity. So if you can focus in on faith and what faith is and how you walk in faith, the Hebrew word emuna,

faithfulness, long continuance, steadfastness, covenant faithfulness, you begin to focus on that and listen, if you did that for a week, you'd be so surprised at how your faith grows. If you say, well, I'm struggling with hope in my life, you would be so surprised at how that hope can grow if you will be specific and focus on hope, maybe go online and find all the scriptures about hope, organize them and put them together so that you can begin to go through scriptures that are dealing with hope, characters that are dealing with hope and they're living a life of hope in the Bible. So if you do that for a week and you're very specific on hope, you're going to have hope. Hebrew word is Tikva, Tikva. And it means really looking at tomorrow

through the lens of God rather than my limited lens. I don't want to just look at my future with my limited lens. I want to see my future through the eyes of God. And there's charity. So then after that, you have, you have justice, you have goodness, you have honesty. That's a, boy, that's a real good one right there. You know, just to be specific and focus and to say, I am going to focus on honesty. I want to be honest. I want my yes to be yes and I want my no to be no and anything other than that is sin, says Jesus. So wisdom. Oh, wow, I've, I have isolated this many times throughout the years of walking with the Lord. I have been specific and isolated and perfected, not perfected, but you know what I mean, perfecting, I should say, wisdom. I'm gathering wisdom. That's why Father

Mike and I put together that Insight Journal, Lord, Ascension, is that we want a place to put down the wisdom and the gold that we're learning in our lives. So then we have prudence. What is prudence? Well, prudence is going to where you want to be. You want to be in heaven with your family one day. Yay. Now you come back to today and you make the proper decisions in line with your goal of being with your family. And in order to do that, you have to be specific. In what you're doing, with your family. Be specific so that it becomes dynamic. And then there's temperance. Temperance. That's moderation, you know, in all things. And modesty in the talk, conduct, the way you dress, modesty. Just in this one point, developing virtue, look at all of them

that you could be specific on. Keep a notebook, a journal. Start growing in these. areas, it is amazing, truly amazing, what you can do. Well, we got up to number four, developing virtue. Oh, by the way, let me put this. Let me put this scripture in there when it comes to, when it comes to prudence. It's Psalm 101.3, listen to this. I will not set before my eyes anything that is base. I hate the work of those who fall away. It shall not cleave to me. So the psalmist is telling us, I will not set any profane thing before my eyes. Well, that's specific.

That's what I'm talking about. But it's a matter of doing it. All right. I'm going to close in prayer. Our next show together, we're going to continue on. I thought I was going to rifle through a lot of these. but as we start on them, I'm realizing there's gold in them, their hills, and there's a lot that we can learn about becoming specific in our spiritual growth.

Let's pray. In the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, amen. Lord Jesus, we love you so much, and we thank you for giving us eternal life. We are so blessed, so, so blessed. We praise you and thank you. we give you glory, O Lord. You are the creator of the world. You are total beauty and truth and mercy.

You are the king of kings and the Lord of Lords. Oh, Jesus, help us to be specific in our life about how we're going to grow in you. And you can take us away and you can teach us and help form us to become more like you. We give you this week to continue to speak to us in Jesus name amen name of the father and the son in the holy spirit amen