The Jeff Cavins Show (Your Catholic Bible Study Podcast) - The Thing You Want is Beyond the Thing

Episode Date: August 20, 2021

What is it that you're truly longing for? Today, Jeff explains why the things we want can’t be found in material things, and shares some resources on finding the true source of our desires. Snippet from the Show “Our capacity for grandeur and satisfaction is too big to stop with the things of this world.” 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 Kaven Show, episode 233. The Thing You Want is Beyond the Thing. 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.

Thanks for joining me again. Jeff Kavans, and we're talking about, well, we're talking about all things that relate to discipleship, Bible reading, living our lives on a daily basis, what I like to call living our lives, as activated disciples, following Jesus every single day, getting the mind of Christ and tackling the issues of the day, more than anything else, giving God the do, that is do him, praise, and glory, majesty, living our lives in such a way. where we reflect the life of God in every circumstance that we are in. I hope you are doing well.

If you're listening to this in some other year other than 2021, I hope things are going well for you. We still are struggling with this whole COVID-19 thing in the Delta variant and other variants beyond it. And people are really searching and asking questions about life. I've contended for quite some time that there are two things that people really are looking for. And one of them is they're looking for someone to trust, and they're also looking for a brighter future. But so many times we aim that trust and that bright future, not at God in the life that he is giving us, but things. things. It could be anything in our lives. And we put so much trust in things and so much meaning in things that if we can get the right things, whether they are concrete or abstract, somehow

we're going to be happy. Well, I want to talk about that a little bit today, and I do have some scriptures for you and some things from the catechism. And if you want my notes, which by the way, people are saying lately that this show has the most comprehensive notes show notes and we try to do that we've got a fantastic team and we try to put together the best show notes for you so that you will not get into a traffic accident or you won't trip over the sidewalk when you're walking around trying to take notes if you want the notes all you got to do is is type my name Jeff Kavens has one word, and you can text it to the number 3.3777. It's quite easy. 3377. You'll be on the list. You'll get them every week, and we can rock and roll at that point.

So I want to talk to you about the thing that you want. What is it that you want in your life? And I'm talking about things here. And I know that there are abstract things. Nevertheless, they are things. but the thing you want, I'm going to argue, is really beyond the thing. Let me say that again. The thing you want is beyond the thing. What is the price of wanting? You know, if you talk to people and what do you want in life? You're going to get a list of things that people want. Some of them are going to be concrete.

They want a house. They want a second car. Maybe they want a cabin. Maybe they want a jet ski. or they want a certain purse or shoes or clothing or a school for their kids, whatever it might be, what is it that you want? Maybe it's abstract, it's peace of mind, it's health, it's confidence in government, whatever it might be. I really would argue, and I've got some great quotes from C.S. Lewis coming up that the thing that you want is actually beyond the

thing the thing represents something that you are you're really aiming at and going for and it's not the thing in itself that is going to completely satisfy you or or even even satisfy you to a point where you can move on what is the price of wanting in your life just think for a moment with me here as you're driving or walking sitting on the back porch with coffee in the morning whatever it might be, what is it that you've had your eyes on for quite some time? What is it you're searching for on Google? What is it you're going into chat rooms and asking other people, you know, about concerning that thing that you are interested in? What is the price of wanting? Think for a minute. What do you want? Why do you want it? What do you think will be the result? Has the

expected result ever happened before? Was it long lasting or short? Was it disappointing or fulfilling? I would argue that what we are searching for in our lives when we look at things or try to gain things, whether it's concrete or abstract, can be found in God. And I love the very first paragraph of the catechism. I have my well-used, you can hear it right there. It sounds like catechism paper doesn't it got my well-used catechism here and the very first paragraph has to be one of my all-time favorites at least it's one of my top one thousand paragraphs in the catechism and it says god infinitely perfect and blessed in himself in a plan of sheer goodness freely created man to make him share in his own blessed life i keep that i'm pausing there for a moment keep that thought for a second

That is very, very powerful. He created man to make him share in his own blessed life. I could put your name in there. I could say he created Greg to share in his own blessed life. He created Susan. He created Don. He created Marie. He created Joe. He created Rachel. To do what? To share in his own blessed life. And then it goes on and says, for this reason, at it every time and in every place, God draws close to man. He calls man to seek him, to know him, to love him with all his strength. He calls together all men scattered and divided by sin into the family, into the unity of his family, the church. To accomplish this when the fullness of time had come, God sent his son as Redeemer and Savior. In his son and through him, he invites men to become in the Holy Spirit, get this, his adopted children and thus heirs of his blessed life. Now, I don't know if you caught that when I read that first paragraph, but there is a theme, and that is his blessed life. He has called you into his blessed life so that you can share and become an heir

of his blessed life. And I'm going to burst the bubble right here and right now, and that is that there is nothing, nothing in this world, nothing in this world that can compare to the blessed life of the Trinity, in terms of scope, in terms of value, in terms of thrill, in terms of deep meaning and satisfaction, nothing. There's nothing on Amazon, nothing on Amazon at all that compares to his blessed life that he's offering you. Now, C.S. Lewis, and I'm going to share this towards the end of the show, C.S. Lewis would argue that everything that has caught your attention on Amazon, even though Amazon wasn't around back then, but that everything that has caught your attention is actually pointing to something

beyond the thing. And that's why I called this show, the thing you want, is beyond the thing. Time? Time. What happens? Let me ask you this question. What is the price of wanting? What's the price in terms of time? What's the price in terms of energy? What's the price in terms of money? What is the price of wanting in terms of freedom or disclosing your emptiness? What is the price? I ran into a very interesting word. just recently. And I want to share this with you. It's memetic. Mimetic desire. It's a very interesting word that fits really well into the show here today. Mimetic desire is that we want things because other people want things. Things we don't inherently want. And that's kind of an interesting concept, isn't it? That if your neighbor wants something, then you, you could find yourself wanting that thing because your neighbor wants that thing. Memitic desire. It could be abstract things, lifestyle that needs things to fulfill things. We mimic

other things or status. We're influenced by models even though we pride ourselves on being such individuals in America today, in the world in the world today. I really do think that a lot of this goes all the way back to the Garden of Eden. You know, in the Garden of Eden in Genesis 3, if you've been a follower of this show, you know that I think it's really important for Christians to know Genesis really well because it sets up the plot line of the entire story of salvation history. But I'm going to turn here, and that's what, those are Bible pages right there. That's a great adventure Bible pages. And I'm turning to Genesis chapter 3 because I think it goes all the way back to the beginning when we see the temptation of Eve by the

serpent. And the serpent says to Eve, did God say you shall not eat of any tree of the garden? And what did God say? Well, God did say earlier that you shall not eat of the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil for in the day that you eat of it you will die well then comes the enemy in chapter three and says well did god say you shall not eat of any tree of the garden and she says she said to the serpent we may eat the fruit of the trees of the garden but god said you shall not eat of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden neither shall you touch it lest you die and the serpent said to the woman nah you're not going to die for god knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened and you will be like god knowing

good and evil. So the woman saw, now listen to what she saw in the tree. She saw that the, the tree had, it was good for food, number one. It was a delight to the eyes, number two, and that the tree was to be desired to make one wise. So here Eve sees three things about the tree that represent something. One is, it's going to be really tasty, that fruit. The other is, it's extremely beautiful. It's beautiful. The fruit is not only tasty, but it's beautiful. And thirdly, it will make me wise.

It will make me wise. So you have those three things, beautiful things, tasty things, things for self-improvement, make me better, right? Those are the three things. And what did Eve do? She went for it. She gave up what she was really called for, which was to obey God, the creator, and she gave it up for the creation.

And this is what happens so often in our lives is that we give up the thing that we're created for, which is God, for the thing that points to God. God is behind the tastiness. God is behind that which would make us wise. And if that's what you're going to go for, then you are going to fall short of what you are really created for, which is the creator. Let me put it another way. You are created for the creator, not the creation.

The creation is good. Don't get me wrong. But you're not created for the creation. You're created for the creator. The thing you want is beyond the thing. C.S. Lewis talks about the pleasure of wanting things. and that there's, he along with others, actually talk about how there is a pleasure in our life in the pursuit of things that are not ultimately going to fulfill us, but they point to

something that will, which is God. We tend to go overboard to the point where we're miserable. In the pursuit of happiness, we actually become unhappy or miserable. I want to talk to you a little bit more about this memetic theory. But I also want to share with you something that C.S. Lewis said that I think is so powerful, that along with another quote from another individual, just could turn you in the right direction when it comes to pursuing and wanting things. You're listening to the Jeff Kaven show. Am I saved? How do I develop a better prayer life? How do I trust in God? The Curious Catholic is a new series of by-size books from Ascension that answer these questions and more. The Curious Catholic features small books from various authors that provide busy Catholics' ways to go deeper into spiritual questions.

The first three titles in the series are from Father Mike Schmitz, host of the Bible in a Year podcast. Father Mike's books explore the topics of salvation, prayer, and trusting in God. To learn more about the Curious Catholic series, go to Ascensionpress.com. com slash curious catholic that's ascensionpress dot com slash curious catholic thanks for coming back we all have fallen prey to this idea of wanting things the memetic this is so interesting i i'm sharing it with you at the top of the show this this idea of the memetic desire means that we want things because other people want things and if other people want things that becomes desire in our own life, even if we don't inherently want the thing.

It's kind of a trap. It sounds like a trap, at least, doesn't it? The thing you want is beyond the thing. Okay, so this memetic theory of desire is an explanation of our behavior. And the French historian and polymath, Renee Gerard, is the one. who is given credit for some of this. The name of the theory is derived from the philosophical concept memesis, which carries a wide range of meanings. In memetic theory, this refers to human desire, which Gerard thought was not linear, but the product of a memetic process

in which people imitate models who endow objects with value. Gerard, calls this phenomenon memetic desire. He describes memetic desire as the foundation of his theory that man is the creature who does not know what to desire. And he turns to others in order to make up his mind. We desire what others desire because we imitate their desires. And isn't that true? You look at some of the fashions that you, maybe you adhered to when you were younger. You were growing up And we used to get our brand new Levi's, and we would let the hem out of the bottom. They were bell bottoms, and we would let the hem out. And then after letting the hem out, we would convince our parents to wash them, two, three, four, dozen times until it looked really, really soft and it looked really like that's exactly what we wanted.

And so that's what people were doing. That's what we wanted. And that will, that's the ticket right there. And yet, times change. And if I were to do that today, it wouldn't, it wouldn't pay the emotional bill. I would have to find something else. What do other people think is really important? I'm going to, I'm going to imitate that.

Now, there are a number of writers who have been writing on this thing recently, this concept of memetic desire. And one of the questions that comes up frequently, and I love this, is what costs should we consider in the pursuit of our desires. And one of them that comes up is what is called the misery tax, a misery tax. Your debt is the evidence of desire, and it stays with you as you move on to another model. You might desire a certain car because others have said that is the car. And lo and behold, you're willing to pay the misery tax. that is that you're going to put that 40, 50,000, $60,000 for that car because that's how you could

become happy. And after you discover that the car didn't make you happy, you're stuck with the misery tax now. I think that's an ingenious idea. And it actually happened to me one time. It did. Well, two times. But when I was a young pastor at the age of 25, I did not have really a car worth speaking about. And I wanted a car that I thought would really, would really communicate who I am as a young pastor. And I couldn't afford a whole lot. I didn't make very much money at all as a young pastor, but I started to notice the cars that other pastors were driving. And I knew that I couldn't get up to the Lexus or up to the BMW or the, you know, those types of things. So I knew I had to settle for something a little bit below what they were what they were driving but i i did learn some things by

watching them and i started to get in my mind that i wanted to get this one gold ford escort now i can hear you laughing right now saying well you're aimed high didn't you jeff well i do i aimed high for where i was at at the time and i wanted this ford escort and i i started to see myself driving it and and i even I was going to get something even better than just an escort. I was going to get air conditioning. You see, all the cars that I had up to that point did not have air conditioning. And I thought, well, a pastor needs air conditioning after all, you know, the man of God and picking up people for lunch and all of that.

And so I had, I really had my mind set on this. And it's amazing how many escorts I started to see as I was driving around an old, old Chevy that was on its last leg. I started seeing them everywhere. And I saw myself in that car. I thought, yeah, that's me. And I started going down the path of imitating. And when I went into kind of make the deal to get that Ford Escort, I only had like $130 a

month to spend on a car, you know, in our budget. And I got that car. I said to the salesman, that's the car that I want. And I acted like I was making a real swift deal. And I ended up walking out of there with a monthly bill of about $220. a month. And I thought, oh, should I really do this?

Should I really do this? Yeah, that's what's going to make you happy. And so I ended up signing the contract for $220 a month for the gold Ford escort with air conditioning. And I thought, whoa. But let me be honest with you. On the way home. Not that night, not the next day. On the way home.

I went from a hundred on the excitement and fulfillment meter to about 10. And I thought, what have I done? What have I done? I just gave in and I bought a car way out of my budget. And I feel miserable. And on that first day, I experienced the misery tax. Now, wow. How do we recognize and address the influences in our life?

especially those online that promote mindless consumption? How is social media addictive? Who has the influence in your life? Who, you know, who do you look to to start to determine what you are going to buy? The things that we are looking to to fulfill something in our lives. Stuff is the extension of identity, isn't it? Stuff is the extension of our dreams. Stuff is the evidence of our security and the meaning that we have in life and our status and the

community and our value with our extended family. We have to seriously take a look at our lives and ask ourselves what we ourselves are really searching for. And is it God that we're really searching for to be liked, to be accepted, to be someone, to have some stock in the community? The thing was merely a truck stop on the trip, a truck stop that we stayed at. We thought the thing was what we were created for. Now, C.S. Lewis said something in that marvelous book called The Four Loves.

He said, do not let your happiness depend on something you may lose. If love is to be a blessing, not a misery, it must be for. for the only beloved who will never pass away. Isn't it true? And I know some of you, my friends, are older and you have more experience, and you would concur with what I'm about to say, and that is that the things that catch our attention are ultimately not the things that are going to provide happiness

and satisfaction in our lives, but time has a way of revealing what it is behind the thing that you are looking for. Behind that beautiful car, behind that outfit, behind that lake homer, behind that jet ski. Behind you fill in the blank. C.S. Lewis went on in another book called The Screw Tape Letters, and he says, it is funny how mortals,

how mortals always picture us as putting things into their minds. Now, this is a demon speaking in the, screw tape letters. It's the underling demon, speaking to the head demon. And he says, you know, it's really funny how mortals always picture us as putting things into their minds. In reality, our best work is done by keeping things out. I thought that was a brilliant piece of writing there. In other words, the enemy is saying, I'm not busy. putting things into your mind. I'm busy, you know, hoping that nothing will go into your mind because you're probably going to have to go and fill it and fill that emptiness in your life.

And guess what? There's a whole smorgasbord called Amazon next day delivery, in fact, prime, that will keep you searching for the thing that is beyond the thing. And when we order the thing, We end up sending the thing back because, guess what? What I thought that thing was wasn't there. It wasn't there. Now, there are a couple of quotes here that I think are fantastic, and I'm going to share them with you. These are two quotes that if I were to come up with non-biblical, non-catechism quotes,

these two would be in the top ten. I'm just telling you that right now. And I'm going to put them in the show notes for you so you don't have to get into an accident. and maybe one of these will become one of your top 10 quotes. If it does, let me know. Send me a message. Send me a message. Put it in the show notes or put it in the comments on the comment section.

Love to hear from you. My email is The Jeff Kaven Show at ascensionpress.com. The Jeff Kaven Show at ascensionpress.com. Send me an email. Be a part of the show. Okay, here's the two. Samuel Johnson 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. Now, the thing about that quote that caught my attention was he said that it is really the pursuit of a pleasure that brings about the pleasure. It's the pursuit of a thing, but once you have the thing, you move on to something else. Is that true in your life?

I have found that to be spot on. in my life. I'm just being honest with you. It's been spot on in my life. Our capacity for grander and satisfaction is too big to stop with the things of this world. Let me say that again. Our capacity, your capacity for grandeur and satisfaction is too big for this world. Would you agree with me on that? Would you agree with that? Would you agree with me on that? Because if that's the case, then there's nothing in this world that is going to ultimately satisfy you like God. You see, God is what you're created for. When are we going to learn that? Now, C.S. Lewis says this other thing in the problem of pain, which is phenomenal. It's a home run.

He said, all things that have ever deeply possessed you should have been but hints of heaven, tantalizing glimpses promises never quite fulfilled echoes that died away just as they caught your ear if i find in myself a desire which no experience in this world can satisfy the more probable explanation is that i was made for another world earthly pleasures were never meant to satisfy it but only to arouse it to suggest the real thing. Oh, that's so good. That is so good. I love it.

I love it. My friend, this week, be careful about the things you want and ask yourself, is that really what you want? Is there something beyond that thing that you really want? Go after it. Go after God. Put everything on hold for a while. Do a fast on things.

pursue God. You'll be so happy you did. My friend, God bless you. In the name of the Father's Son and the Holy Spirit, Lord bless my friend this week. I pray in your name. Amen. Have a great week. Pray for me and I will pray for you.