The Jeff Cavins Show (Your Catholic Bible Study Podcast) - Getting Rid of Belly Button Lent

Episode Date: February 19, 2021

Everyone needs to search their hearts and ask how they will prepare for the Lord. Today, Jeff talks about how we can use Lent to draw ourselves closer to God and to prepare our hearts for his coming. Ascension is proud to partner with authentically Catholic institutions and organizations committed to spreading the Gospel. Learn more about the sponsor of this episode, Ave Maria University (https://tinyurl.com/yycd3xng) Snippet from the Show “It’s the precious moments that make up your life united with Christ, that’s what will last forever.” 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!

You're listening to the Jeff Kavan Show, episode 206, getting rid of belly buttoned Lent. Hey, I'm Jeff Kavins. How do you simplify your life? How do you study the Bible? All the way from motorcycle trips to raising kids, we're going to talk about the faith and life in general. It's the Jeff Kaven show. I knew it. I knew that title. would grab you. And you are no doubt thinking to yourself, that's the subject that I've been researching. I've been looking for this. And finally, someone is going to address it. Well, welcome to Lent. I'm Jeff Kavins. I'm so glad that you join me today. We are actually going to talk about Lent, and we're going to be talking about getting rid of the garbage in our life. But I couldn't

help but notice that belly button lint is so close to belly button lent and you're not going to believe this maybe you will i actually went online and i did some re i did some research about this and i am not kidding you there are articles written about belly button lent maybe you've struggled with this. Apparently, a lot of people have because there's articles on where does it come from? Is it harmful? How do you get rid of it? Preventative care. Now, while it is called a belly button, I assure you it is not. And when you press it, nothing will happen. But I know that there's a lot of people who struggle with belly button lint, and that is the fibers from your clothes getting trapped inside of your belly button. And I guess you have to listen to what I'm going to say today

about getting rid of the garbage in your life during Lent, and it doesn't matter if you're in any or an outy. It doesn't matter if you're an extrovert or an introvert. Everybody needs to take a look. And everybody needs to search their heart and find out, you know, how can I prepare for the Lord? How can I prepare for what is coming up in the Easter Vigil, the greatest event in Christianity, the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus? Again, if you want the show notes, all you got to do is type my name, Jeff Kavens, text it to 33777. And if you are interested, In the Bible in a year, we'll put all that information in the show notes, still getting a lot of media calling and wondering what is going on with the Bible in a year with Father Mike Schmitz and

yourself, and it seems to have caught the nation by surprise, and people are enjoying it. So it's really, it's really in all seriousness, it's a lot of fun to be able to read the Bible in chronological order, and Father Mike Schmitz gives some wonderful commentary on it, and then I come in here and there and give you some guidelines on how to navigate through the Bible and chronological order. And I talk about all the main characters and the events throughout salvation history, and then some of the areas where you can get lost. And that happens to all of us. Okay, so what about Lent? What about all that has built up in your life that needs to be dealt with? I'm talking about attitudes. I'm talking about sin. I'm talking about fear and anger and all of the vices,

to be sure. There is a value in setting a specific period of time for a more, shall we say, concentrated preparation. And I love this about the Catholic Church. You know, the liturgical calendar is pure genius. It really is. But I think a lot of people they don't get that. They don't understand what is really happening when it comes to the liturgical calendar. And we celebrate Lent yearly. It's a 40-day period where we get an opportunity to kind of be tested, we purify our hearts, we examine our conscience, and we want to become holy as Jesus is holy. And we want to pursue that upward call. in our life to be like Christ.

Reaching that goal really is a lifelong task, but every year, Lent rolls around and you get another opportunity to grow closer and closer to the goal. One day, you hopefully will be with Jesus face to face, not looking through a glass darkly, but you will see him face to face in heaven for all. eternity. Wow. You know, I mentioned the liturgical calendar, and of course it starts in Advent, and then moves into the Christmas season, and then you experience ordinary time, and ordinary time is not ordinary time. It is ordered time, and it is structured time. It's not kind of like layback, you know, we're going to wait between Christmas and Easter. We've got ordinary

time here. No, it's actually ordered time in the teachings of Jesus, his kingdom, and then we come to Lent. And that's where we're at now. And then after Lent, we enter the Easter time of the year, and then go back into ordinary time, and then we culminate the year. The height of the zenith is Christ the king. And then we start all over again in Advent. You give up things during Lent, and the purpose for that is to remind you one of the good things that God has given you. to be thankful, but also to go without the good for the best. And that is the relationship with the Lord. We deny our flesh, we change our schedule and our focus to get us more calibrated with the Lord. This idea of 40 days of preparation, in that period, we learned something about God, but we also

learned something about ourselves, don't we? About our own weaknesses and our own our own patterns in life that are not conducive to growing in holiness. Now, COVID has become, for many, a great big 40-day wilderness, if you want to be honest about that, a big 40-day wilderness. And it seems like just yesterday, it doesn't actually, it seems like a long time ago that we were talking about Lent and how COVID was like the ultimate Lent, you know, that we are really focusing on our lives and we feel like we're in the wilderness, abandoned, without our friends, without the regular routine in our life.

Well, everything has been taken away from so many people with entertainment and eating out, schools, offices, finances, sports. We're getting back to that a little bit, but I want to remind you, don't run from Lent. Just because you went through a year with COVID, dive in to Lent. and embrace it. The number 40 is really interesting because the number 40 is used throughout the Bible and it is used to commemorate a test, a trial, if you will. Like, for example, in Genesis 7, you know, during Noah's time, how long did the rain fall? Well, it was 40 days and 40 nights. and he was in the ark with his family and the animals.

So back in Genesis 7, we see the introduction of the number 40. And then in Exodus 24, all the way to Exodus 34, we see that Moses went up on the mountain and fasted for 40 days and nights and prayed. He did that twice. And fasting and praying is typically associated with Lent. It's associated with this searching of our hearts and trying to become closer to God and more like him. In Numbers chapter 14, the 12 spies before they went up into the promised land, the 12 spies, they went up, they checked out the promised land. And you know your Bible, they came back and 10 of them said, there's no way that we can take that land because there are giants in the land.

two of them, Joshua and Caleb, they came back and they said, oh yeah, we can take them, we can take them. Well, the 10 won out, and so God said, you know what? And this is interesting. This is interesting because we're in the middle of Lent right now. God said for every day that you gazed upon the riches and the land and the fruit and the grain and the beautiful topography, for every day that you that you spied out that land because you don't trust me you will spend one year for every day in the wilderness and how many days 40 days they spied out the land and so the book of numbers is largely this 40 year period in the wilderness and as we read through the Bible in a year with Father Mike he goes through that and gives some really excellent commentary

that I think will be helpful in your life. 1 Samuel 17, David and Goliath, the giant, Goliath, what did he do for 40 days? For 40 days, he accused and he taunted the people of Israel for 40 days. In 1st Kings 19, Elijah fasted for 40 days. Jonah announced, in 40 days, Nineveh will be destroyed. Jonah ended up proclaiming the good news to them, and they responded. but the marquee 40-day event without a doubt is Matthew chapter 4 when Jesus went into the wilderness for 40 days he was tried three times and every time he came back with it is written it is

written it is written and he provides an example for you that as you go through lent and you are confronting the things in your life that need to be dealt with I would really encourage you to be a person of Scripture, a person of the Word of God, and quote Scripture. It is written. It is written. Find those verses that correspond to the battle that you are dealing with, that garbage that needs to come out and proclaim the Word of God. Now, there are three major areas that I want to talk to you about that we all struggle with. And we find these three mentioned several times in the Bible. And I want to talk about those and how we can overcome during this time of Lent. And we're going to do that right after this. You're listening

to the Jeff Kaven show. Nestled under the warm Florida sun is a university. whose name indicates a vocational call. Ave Maria, Latin for Hail Mary, recalls the Angel Gabriel's announcement to Mary of her future vocation, becoming the mother of God. Enriched by God's grace, Mary freely ascends to this call.

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Visit Ave Maria.edu or call 1-833 AMU-S-W-F-L. Getting rid of belly button lent. Okay, so I mentioned right before the break that there's three things that we really, really struggle with, and we find these listed clear back in the book of Genesis, when Adam and Eve were confronted by the Nahash, the serpent in the Garden of Eden, God had previously said you shall not eat of any tree in the garden, you can eat freely of any tree in the garden, but not the tree of the good and evil, the knowledge of good and evil. And the enemy came up to Adam and Eve, and he said, did God say? And Eve said, yeah, we can't eat of that tree or even touch it lest we die. And the enemy said, you will not die. You will not die. You see, the enemy wanted Adam and Eve to grasp for the creation. rather than the creator.

And Eve in Genesis 3, she made three observations about the fruit of the tree. She said, number one, it's good for food. Number two, it's a delight to the eyes. It's a delight to the eyes. And that's number two. And then number three, it's desirable to make one wise. So those are the three observations that Eve made. It's good for food.

It's a delight to the eyes. and it will make one wise. Now, is there anything wrong with that, first of all? Well, the answer is no. There's nothing wrong with good food. There's nothing wrong with beautiful things, and there's nothing wrong with wanting to be wise, right? Self-improvement, maybe even.

There's nothing really wrong with that. But when you go after the food and what's delusely, to the eyes. And what just simply makes you wise without the Creator, without God, it turns into idolatry. It turns into idolatry. Now, in first John, that first of three epistles that John wrote, he mentions in chapter 2, verses 15 through 17, I'll put that in the show notes for you, he talks about a threefold source of problems that matches the observations of Eve in the garden. He says, the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, these are not of God. These are of the world. And so we have John reminding us of the three things that

Eve observed. They're corresponding. They really are. So you've got the lust of the flesh corresponds to what Eve saw, and it's good for food. The lust of the eyes. The lust of the eyes corresponds to what is the delight to the eyes and the pride of life desirable to make one wise now again there's nothing wrong with these three things but when they have a hold of you that food for example the appetites it turns into a lust of the flesh and when you let the delight of the eyes run away you start to think about possessions you you lust for things you desire things. You're on Amazon constantly. You go to the mall. You're figuring out how to trade in the old stuff so you can buy this new stuff. It's got to hold on you. It's the lust of the eyes.

The pride of life, you suddenly realize that your whole life is about you and you becoming the best you, right? That becomes a problem, the pride of life. But here's the good news. And this is right in the context of the Lenton verses on Jesus going into the wilderness in Matthew chapter four, right after that, right after his success with the enemy, we go into chapter five and we are introduced by the Lord to three major forms of piety that deal with the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life. And you can read about these in Matthew Chapter 5. So the three forms of piety that I would recommend to you during this Lenton season is fasting, almsgiving, and prayer. Fasting, almsgiving, and prayer. So how do those correspond to the

lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life? Well, let's do this. If you're struggling with the lust of the flesh. That is, your appetites. And this could be for anything. This could be for food. It could be for sex. It could be for wisdom, you know. It could be for social media, binge watching on Netflix. You name it. You name it. The lust of the flesh. How do you counter that? Well, Jesus gives us these three secret weapons in that first one is fasting. So fasting is not just denying ourselves food or binge watching or something else that would go under the category of lust of flesh, lust of the flesh. Fasting in itself does not cure the problem. What fasting does is it is a denial of that good created thing, or in some cases it's not so good.

depending on what's happening in your life. But as you deny yourself that good, you don't just sit there and say, okay, I hope something happens here. But you go for the great. You go for the better. You go for God's will, God's provision, God's food, God's wisdom, right? God's narrative, salvation history. You like to watch movies? Well, maybe you need to fast and you need to plunge yourself into God's amazing story. So fasting is the way that we deal with the lust of the flesh. The second, lust of the eyes. In Genesis, she said that Eve said that there was a delight to the eyes, looked good, you know, want to have it, got to have it, possession. What is Jesus' secret weapon here? Alms giving. You say, Jeff, are you serious? You mean if I give alms that if I

really desiring something, if I'm lusting after something, if I think to myself, I cannot live without that fill in the blank, are you saying almsgiving does something? It does. You divest yourself of that which has a hold of your heart. It has a hold of your mind. It has a hold of on your body. Divest yourself. If weightlifting and gym, the visit at the gym has become your idol, stop during Lent and divest yourself. Divest yourself. You have a problem with too many possessions in your life and it's actually weighed you down and you're finding out that your life has actually become quite complicated because of it. Well, divest yourself. Give it away. Give it to the poor. Sell it. Give the money to the poor. Put it on eBay. Give the money to your church. You would be surprised at how

divesting yourself or giving away what you have, you'd be surprised at what kind of impact it has on your soul and on your peace of mind. It's very powerful. Fasting, almsgiving. And then the third is, you know, Eve saw that it was desirable to make one wise. And John puts it this way in John two, pride of life. Pride of life. Oh, how we struggle with pride, don't we? Pride is an inaccurate assessment of who we are in relationship to God and who we are in relationship to one another. We're all that in a bag of chips, right? And there's just too much focus on me, me, me.

Well, what's the secret weapon that Jesus gives in Matthew chapter 5 in the sermon on the Mount? Prayer. Well, how does prayer fight the pride of life? Well, the foundation for prayer, the catechism tells us, is humility. Humility is the foundation of prayer because in prayer, we have a proper assessment of who we are in relationship to God. And it's not my wisdom. It's not me becoming this outstanding individual.

That's not the goal. The goal is to become a daughter, a son of God, who walks in humility and says, Lord, your will be done. And so only you can assess where you're at right now, but if your life is made up of just too much of you, then you need to turn to prayer. Now, when you put fasting, dealing with the lust of the flesh, and almsgiving, dealing with the lust of the eyes, and prayer combating the pride of life, you've got three major weapons that will help you during this time getting the getting rid of the belly button lent the all of that has accumulated in your life that has slowed you down made you dull to hearing the voice of god and made you

very very laxadaisical about doing what god has created you to do and you know when jesus went through the temptations in chapter four, yeah, chapter four of Matthew, the point of attack of the enemy was always Jesus' identity. He said, if you are the son of God, make these stones bread. If you are the son of God, throw yourself off the pinnacle of the temple. If you are the son of God, fall down and worship me. I'll give you all the kingdoms of the world. You see, the point of attack on you is your identity. And it is through the lust of flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life that we try to bring some kind of definition as to who we are. We try to say something about ourselves. We want people to know who we are. But that is not what the kingdom of God is about.

And Lent, my friend, is a 40-day period. Isn't God good? Could have been 30. Could have been 20. He gave you 40 days to figure it out. 40 days to take stock. 40 days to look at your life and to be honest. Like James says, you know, in James chapter one, the word of God is like a mirror. You look into the mirror. And it isn't it isn't the one who just looks in the mirror that does something. It's the one who looks in the mirror and makes changes. It's like the word. It's like the of God. You look into the Word of God and you see yourself as you really are and you, what do you do? You don't walk away. You do the Word of God and that's where the transformation takes place. Now when you receive the ashes on your forehead, by the way, our church did something different this year. I have never had this

happen and I didn't know what was going to happen. I went up to receive my ashes and they took a pile of ashes and threw them on top of my head because of COVID. And that brought on a whole new meaning, you know, of sackcloth and ashes. I've never had ashes on my head before, but this year it took place. Now, those ashes are produced by the burning of the palm branches from the previous year. So in a way, you've got this full cycle from, you know, throughout the year. And now you receive those burnt ashes and you are reminded of one of two phrases, depending on your parish, turn away from sin and be faithful to the gospel. Or remember, man, you are dust, and to dust, you will return. So everything about the lust of the flesh, everything about the lust of the

eyes and the pride of life will turn to dust. But it's the gold and the silver and the precious metal, the precious gems that make up your life in obedience to Christ. That's what will last forever. That's what will last forever. So getting rid of belly button lent, I pray that this year you'll get rid of all that doesn't belong in your life. God will help you to deal with this. And if you, if you don't pay attention to the garbage that comes up in your life, you'll be taken out of active service and put into the Naval Reserve. Ah, you knew that was coming. I know it's corny, but you'll tell someone. And hopefully you'll remember all of this during Lent and really do something about your spiritual condition. I love you, my friend. I want to

to close in prayer. I want to remind you also that Father Mike Schmitz and I are going to Israel in June on pilgrimage, and you're invited. Go to my website, jeffcavens.com, and you can be a part of this pilgrimage. And also I'll put the link for Bible in a year. In the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, Lord, I thank you today for my friends. I thank you for their desire. And I know, Lord, they have a desire. They're seeking you. They're pursuing you. And, Lord, I know that you are pursuing us. May we meet during this 40-day period in this ordeal, in this testing, and truly do a proper assessment of our spiritual health and make the appropriate changes. Lord, we thank you for the three great weapons you've given us, fasting and alms, giving in prayer. May we use those for your

glory. We pray this in Jesus' name. Amen. Name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. Amen. Love you. Have a great week.