The Jeff Cavins Show (Your Catholic Bible Study Podcast) - Do You Have a Plan for Living? (Part 1)

Episode Date: March 28, 2025

Are you navigating life with a clear sense of direction, or are you simply reacting to the world around you? Jeff discusses the importance of having a personal plan for living that reflects your faith and priorities. He explores the concept of 'haram,' which involves shaping your daily life around your beliefs. Jeff emphasizes that God's plan, unlike any human-made plan, encompasses both earthly and eternal perspectives. Please consider supporting this podcast and Ascension’s free media by visiting ascensionpress.com/support. Snippet from the Show "You will not be disappointed in pursuing God." 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 https://media.ascensionpress.com/?s=&page=2&category%5B0%5D=Ascension%20Podcasts&category%5B1%5D=The%20Jeff%20Cavins%20Show 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 show 423. Do you have a plan for living? Hello, my friend. Welcome. Welcome. Love this time of year. It's getting warmer. Summer is here. officially here and that is good news and currently i am coming to you from the warmth of southern louisiana in baton rouge and with my good friend chef john false award-winning chef worldwide fame he's incredible he's the guy that uh ended up cooking the meal between regan and gorbachev and he has done some uh beautiful beautiful meals for lady diana also for the last four popes or is it three three or four popes he's just a tremendous guy so it's always nice

to come down here in louisiana had a crawfish boil a couple days ago and that's always nice do you like crawfish you know i'm from minnesota deep in the woods and we we don't have crop well we do have sort of a crawfish but we use them for bait and here they eat them put some spice in there and corn and some potatoes and it is amazing just amazing hey we're going to talk today about this question, do you have a plan for living? Do you have a plan for living? And this particular show is for you, just in the area of general encouragement, you know, and take a moment this week to ask yourself, man, do I have a plan for living? Or am I just going with the tyranny of the urgent? Whatever gets my attention, that's what I'll give my time to. And then you go to bed,

you wake up, and the same thing over and over and over. So let's talk about that a little bit today. Now, before we get into that, I want to encourage you to do something. I know that I have so many friends who have been with me for six, seven years in the podcast on a weekly basis as we talk about all things Bible. We talk about growing as disciples, scripture study, simplicity, all kinds of things. I appreciate that so much. Now, we've had a number of people who have said, is there any way that I can support the show. And not only that, but to support many of the fine shows from Ascension. And I want to give you the answer to that idea. The answer is, yes, you can support the shows. And I'm asking you to be a part of this as you and I work together, particularly supporting the Jeff Kaven show.

And as you and I work together, I do this. You can financially support it if you want to. certainly your prayers are needed and very much appreciated. But if you and I can work together, we're going to stand a better chance to get the good news out there on the internet. And let's face it, that's where people are searching right now for answers to depression, anxiety, a lack of motivation in life, marriage problems, raising kids, how do I study the Bible? What's the life of a disciple all about? All these types of questions.

And you'd be surprised at how many people have written to me and said, I didn't know who you were. I didn't know who Ascension was, but I did a search on Google about anxiety or lack of purpose in life. And the show came up, ended up becoming a tool that changed their life. And so if you and I can work together, I would so appreciate it. And you can do it. You can support the podcast and other Ascensions free media by simply visiting ascensionpress. forward slash support and then you can be a part of it and I know that a lot of people have asked me about this and I have failed to say anything about it week after week and I do want to say something this week go to ascensionpress.com forward slash support anything that you can give that is much appreciated and then we're a team right now because I know that a lot that I share you share with others and some of the things that you share with me I share with others and so we have a a beautiful relationship going on here.

Again, that's ascensionpress.com forward slash support. Now, today's show, I do have some scripture. If you do want the show notes, all you got to do is text my name, one word, Jeff Kavens, and you text to the number 33777. That's two threes and three-sevons, three-three-seven-seven. We'll get you on board for all the show notes. And we've got good show notes. Okay, so we're talking about.

do you have a plan for living? Now, a lot of people would say, Jeff, I'm so busy, and I got so many things hitting me in the face at work, at home, neighbors, extended family, that I have never even really had the time to sit down and come up with a plan for my life. Hey, I know what that's like. I have a busy life, too. But I think that the Christian can cut through all that and say, you know what, I am going to have a shape to my life. I'm going to have a shape to my life that reflects the love of my heart, the passion that I have for the faith. And I know that you can do that. I know it, you know, it wouldn't be asked of us by the Lord to follow him if we didn't have the capability of making that possible and designing a life, a day, a week, a month where we can

follow the Lord and and we can grow in his grace. Now there's a there's a big word, Hararium, Harareum. Harareum. Maybe you've heard that before. Harareum speaks of a shape to your day, a way of going about growing in the Lord every single day, something you do regularly, whether it's prayer in the morning, scripture, meditation in the evening, a time of praying the rosary and maybe meditating on some kind of written meditation, whatever it might be. But a Horarium is a way of life. So let me ask you this question. Describing the current problems facing the average person who wants their life to change, number one, is there a lack of cohesive, comprehensive planning for living that contains goals and priorities and ways of determining growth? When I say priorities, I want to change that

to priority as you know i'm not a big believer in priorities but i am a big believer in a priority in life and my priority is to is to do the will of god in my life in every area of my life and in order for me to do that i have to have a plan in my life so are you lacking a cohesive comprehensive plan for the daily living what about busyness in your life do you feel you that things are just so busy that you can't get to, you know, the real important things and you are giving your life to the urgent things. There's a term for that, you know. It is the tyranny of the urgent. Number three, back to what I said just a moment ago, do you lack priority? If somebody were to interview you or catch you on the elevator and say, what's your

priority in life, what would you say? Would you have to think about it long and hard and then debate with yourself and well i don't you know i'm not sure and do you know do you have a priority in your life describing attempts and the offerings that society places before us you know like oprah dr phil books day planners all of this uh it usually ends up that the tyranny of the urgent gets our attention and that we don't pay attention to what god wants us to do and if we do of the time we have a tendency to go after what I would call low-hanging fruit. That's talk shows on television looking to those shows or podcasts or evening news to set the agenda for our life. But you know as well as I do that it isn't the network news or Oprah, Dr. Phil, or anything else that really

sets the plan for my life. Only I can do that and only I can do that properly as I look to Jesus for the plan in my life. So we talk about marriage, ideas for marriage. You have a plan, fathers, professional aspect of your life, struggles with addiction, boredom, TV, entertainment, culture, all of this that we're facing. How do we cut through it all? Is there hope? Well, is there really a plan that is not made up by humans for humans, but a plan devised by God for humans? Yes. there is. And this plan was devised by God, and then God became a human and lived it for us as an example. And this is the difference between the plan God has and all other plans. The plan that God has for our life comes out of God coming to us, revealing himself in word and deed, and becoming a man

in showing us how to live. And so we stand in somewhere. And so we stand in somewhere, ways like Robert Johnson in the blues at the crossroads. Are we going to follow God's plan for our life? Are we going to continually look to pop formators in our culture to give us ideas on a plan? You know, the importance of an overall plan that takes into consideration more than life on earth is God's plan. It takes on eternal perspective. And that's one of the things that makes God's plan different than anybody else's plan that is being offered to you, is that God's plan takes into consideration not just life here on earth, but eternal life, the eternal perspective. And this is, frankly, the problem with so many human plans. They are small

and they are limited. They are shallow, both in scope and in power to bring about the change that we so desperately need and desire. God's plan is the only one that contains the power. You could say sacramental. It is the plan, the only one that contains the power to accomplish its goals. That's right. God has a plan that in that plan there is power to accomplish change in your life. And it's right in front of us.

I love that favorite story of, I was always a show. Sherlock Holmes fan. And I loved reading Sherlock Holmes growing up. And there's this story where Watson, his sidekick, Watson is out there sleeping under the stars on a sleeping bag. And Sherlock Holmes is next to him laying on a sleeping bag. And Sherlock says, Watson, my dear friend, look up and tell me what you see. I see a big dipper. So we are looking west, Holmes. And I see the clouds. And I see the clouds. moving about 10 miles per hour to the east. Watson, you're not observing the most obvious thing. What is that? What is that, Holmes? Someone stole our tent. It's like it was right in front of you. We didn't know it. The plan that God has for you is right in front of you. It is in

scripture and in the context of the church. There's a plan there. You know, we're created in the image and likeness of God. God is the past. God is in the present. God is in the future. And we're capable, like God, we're capable to live in the past with regret or live in the future with fear or live in the present confused. We're capable. The only creatures to do this, we are capable of dwelling in the past, the present and the future. But the problem is that we can let the past weigh us down and the future frighten us to the point where we are paralyzed in the present does that describe your life or are you going through a period of life where that would describe this period of your life we should let go of the past learn from it yes and cherish the good

memories but we must not fear or create a dark future that we cannot live in our ability to project is very, very powerful. Our vital signs and emotions can completely be swept away by living in the future or what ifs from the past. So I want to talk a little bit more about that on the other side of our break here and I think it's going to be encouraging to you. And when I share something like this on the show, it's because I need it in my own life as well.

You're listening to the Jeff K. and show. Hi, my name is Father Josh Johnson. I want to invite you to join me this lent for set free. A series of daily video reflections based on my new book, The Pocket Guide to Overcoming the Seven Deadly Sins. Starting March 5th in the Ascension app, we're focused on getting to the roots of the sins we struggle with in our day-to-day lives, all of which stem from the seven deadly sins of wrath, sloth, gluttony, lust, greed, envy, and pride. In the gospel, Jesus says, when you pray. But he also says, when you fast. Most people know that Catholics fast during Lent,

but what they may not know is that fasting is a powerful tool to defeat sin. As we learn more and more about each one of the seven deadly sins, we'll explore small fast and practical ways to grow in the opposite virtues so that we can root out and eliminate each one at its source. You can learn more and download the free Lent action plan by visiting ascensionpress.com slash Father Josh Lent. to join, download, and subscribe to the Ascension app today. Welcome back.

We're talking today about do you have a plan for living, a horarium, a shape to your day that says, this is the priority. This is what I'm going to give my life to. Now, I read this book by Thomas Reneer and Art Reneer called Simple Life. It was very good. And I'm in there, and I'll put this in the show notes for you, it says this. And I thought it was so good. He said for many of us, the past and the future are something more.

They are our competition. They drive us beyond healthy limits. For some of us, much of our daily schedule, the rigors we put ourselves through, is a result of fear. We fear the future. We fear the past. And while we concern ourselves with one or both, we forget about the present, the only moment where we have some real control. Isn't that amazing? I think he's right. They are right, both Thomas and Art. Steve Jobs once said that he is as proud of the things that they have not done as he is of the things they have done. Now, while we're not certainly bringing him up to the level of a saint or anything like that, I think it's good wisdom and I think it's good observation that a lot of times our success in life is not due to just what we are going to do, but also, So the contribution of what we have not done.

There's things that we're not going to do, things that will keep us from living that life that Jesus has ordained for us. Marcus Prowst, he says, it's a quote, he says, the real voyage of discovery consists not in seeking new landscapes, but in having new eyes. I think there's wisdom in that too. How many times have you said to yourself out of boredom and you are stuck in the present with really no priority. You don't know what you're going to do with your life.

And you say, you know what? I need a new landscape. I need to move to a new city. I need to be in the mountains. I need to be on the plains. I need to be near the water. But he's saying here that that's not the problem, really. You need new eyes.

You need a new way of looking at life. Starting with right where you're at, you think, well, here we are. You know, we're in Omaha. And I think if we move to Denver, we're going to see the mountains and we're going to have that life we always dreamed of. Seeking new landscapes doesn't give you a new life. It might affect you in some ways, sure, but what you need is new eyes. You need new eyes, a new way of looking at life, and that is through the lens of Jesus.

That's the great real voyage of discovery. We create myths about ourselves instead of living that real life for the Lord. We become frustrated when we live our lives as if the earth is all there is. the treasures of earth are all that we are going to accumulate or experience. There's a quote here. I'm going to put this one in the show notes for you too because you're probably jogging, writing in the car. You can't write notes right now. So I'm going to share this with you. It's Ecclesiastes 311 and I love it. It says, God created us with eternity in our hearts. In other words, my friend, you've got eternity in your heart.

make plans for the future? What does the future mean? Does that mean you're 40 years old right now? And you think, well, I'm going to retire when I'm 65 and I'm going to change landscapes. And I'm going to have that life I'm dreaming of. Well, if the goal is just planning for senior living, while you're really cutting yourself short here, that shouldn't be the plan. I mean, it can be part of your plan, but the plan goes beyond that. God created you with eternity in your life. heart. So the problem that we experience is that our scope of living is too small. Because of our choices and our attachment to things, being drawn by beauty, right? We want to improve ourselves in the now. Yay. We focus only on earth and it can't end in lasting happiness. It's not the way we're created,

is it? And if you're like me, maybe you found out the hard way a couple times where you took that route and then you came up bankrupt and saying, this is not it. We find ourselves frustrated with trying to attain things that in the end won't bring the happiness that we are pursuing. I so love what C.S. Lewis says about this. He is, he is so good. And he talks about everything that caught your eyes, everything that you started going for, everything that possessed your thinking. And you went online and searched it out thoroughly. Everything. thing that you're doing that with points to something beyond it, which is God, which is God. A while ago, a global marketing research firm announced that almost everybody agrees with the

statement. This is the statement. There is never enough time in the day to get done what I want to get done. In other words, Americans were among, they're among the most likely to agree about 64% of us affirmed that statement that there's never enough time in the day to get done what I want to get done. But quoting the Gospel of Mark chapter 1, verse 35, speaking of Jesus, he prayerfully waited for his father's instructions. That's so beautiful. Jesus, when he came to earth, he had one priority, and that was to do his father's will. And everything in his life centered around that, whether he was with people, whether he was alone, whether he was in Jerusalem, or whether he was in the desert, whether it was morning or whether it was evening, whether he was with

his men or on vacation, one thing. I want to do my father's will. Tension is who you think you should be, because you want to get things done, right? Relaxation is who you are. To relax in the Lord. That's what the Sabbath is all about, you know. The human animal, pardon me for calling us that is the only one that thinks about the future. And this is one of the chief differences between animals and us. We can think about the future and plan. Second Corinthians 11.3, Paul, he laments the fact that the devil has made our lives quite complex. He says, but I'm afraid Corinthians, that as the serpent deceived Eve by his craftiness, your minds will be led astray from the simplicity and purity of devotion to Christ.

I'm going to ask you a question. Are you living in that simplicity and purity of devotion to Christ? Or has your life become so complex due to sin, due to poor choices, due to a poor use of time and money? Wow. And that's what Adam and Eve did. You might remember worshipping the creature rather than the creator, worshiping the created thing rather than obeying the creator.

I like what Oscar Wilde said one time. You'll like this. I'll put it in the notes for you. You'll probably share it with your kids. He says, be yourself. Be yourself. Everyone else is already taken. Be yourself.

Be that son of God, that daughter of God, that disciple of the Lord Jesus Christ. Wow. Very, very powerful. You know, I didn't know I was going to share all this with you, but I'm actually giving you some of the USDA prime choice quotes in this show. And one of my all-time favorites is by a man by the name of Samuel Johnson. And he said this about what we're talking about today. He said, it is generally allowed that no man ever found the happiness of possession proportionate to that expectation which incited his. desire and invigorated his pursuit. Nor has any man found the evils of life so formidable in reality

as they were described to him by his own imagination. Every species of distress brings with it some peculiar supports, some unforeseen means of resisting or powers of enduring. I like the beginning of that. I really like that. It is generally allowed that no man ever found the happiness of possession, proportionate to the expectation which incited his desire and invigorated his pursuit. In other words, the pursuit made you happier than the possession of the thing or the event or the experience or the person. That's right. And so we need to hop the tracks, get on that track with God, rather than that track of the world, and begin, begin to pursue the Lord's will with a new invigorated spirit.

I see simple living as choosing to live a life that values experiences over stuff. I really do. So, so much more that I can share with you here. Maybe we'll end up with a show too in the future on this. But I just wanted to share that with you. And maybe you know why. Maybe you would write me at the Jeff Kaven show at ascensionpress.com and say, I needed to hear that today.

I just needed to hear it. I needed to get back on track. I needed a jumpstart today. Maybe that's what this is. Maybe it's what it is. But I am going to go further in the future here. And you know what I think I'm going to do? I may do a part two coming up in the future.

future. Let me pray for you right now. We'll leave it right there and just marinate in it and ask yourself the question, do I have a plan for life? Am I focused on the priority that God has for me? And all the other things I do flow from that priority. Am I continually searching for things of this world? And once I apprehend them, I find that the possession of that which I pursued is less than the pursuit itself. If that's you, trust me, you will continue in that mode over and over and over in what you're pursuing will change, but the results will be the same. It's not going to fill you.

The only thing that can fill you is St. Augustine said, my heart is restless until it rests in God. And so I'm speaking wisdom today, insight, comfort, consolation. God wants you to pursue him. You will not be disappointed. Take your hands off of the things of this world that have so latched themselves to you and pursue God. In the end, you will thank me. In heaven, God please, you and I will have a talk about it. And we will determine that that was, in fact, the truth. Let's pray. In the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, amen. Lord Jesus, thank you for giving us your word. thank you for showing us how to live where we're at right now lord we radically reorient our whole

life to you and ask you to help us to live the priority you have for us in jesus name amen name of the father and the sun and the holy spirit amen