The Jeff Cavins Show (Your Catholic Bible Study Podcast) - Throwback Episode: Is Your Life Too Complex?

Episode Date: October 19, 2026

We have another throwback episode as Jeff is working on some new projects! Stay tuned for more details. How busy is your life? How many different “priorities” are vying for your attention? Life can be incredibly complex which can distract us from the priority. Jeff Cavins addresses the problem of an overcomplicated life and offers advice on how to uncomplicate your life. He also emphasizes the importance of prioritizing God above all else. Snippet from the Show The answer to life’s complexities is Jesus Christ. 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 Kavens show, where we talk about the Bible, discipleship, and evangelization, putting it all together and living as activated disciples. This is show 376. Is your life too complex? Welcome to the show, my friend. I'm Jeff Kavans, and we're going to talk about your life if it's too complex. And we're going to offer some suggestions on how to deal with that. that. You know, I kind of go through this from time to time where I realize that my life is just too busy. There's too much going on, too much coming into the house, not enough going out. And after a while, it's like, man, I need a break. I'm just going 100 mile an hour. Well, if that's you, I can't solve all your problems, but I can give you a few pointers that might help today from

the scripture. Just giving you some suggestions that might bring your life back to some kind of normalcy. Again, you know, as in every show, it's a matter of do we do what God tells us to do? Do we hear something and say, well, that's pretty good and then just go back to our life. I hope you don't do that. I know I do sometimes. You know, I might read a good book or listen to a talk and I think, man, that's really good. And in fact, I even talked to Emily about it, but then a week later, I'm right back where I was. Oh, I don't like that. and you probably don't like that either. So let's change it, shall we?

All right. Before I pray here, I do want to remind you if you want the show notes, which today I do have some significant notes that I want to pass on to you. Well, all you have to do is text my name, Jeff Kaven's one word to the number 33777. That's it. Number 33777. Okay. So let's open up with prayer, shall we? This is a very serious topic.

In the name of the Father, Son, and the Holy Spirit, Lord, I thank you for leading and guiding me right now as we discuss with each other this issue of our plates being full, our life being too complex. And what do we do about it, Lord? How do we bring this back into some kind of order, some normalcies, some peace, so we can walk with you and take care of the things in our life that need to be taken care of? Help us, Lord. We all cry out to you for help. help us with living. We pray in Jesus' name. Amen. Name of the Father's Son and the Holy Spirit. Okay, so I have been thinking about several scriptures this week, and I don't want to make this too complex, pardon the pun, but I really don't. But I do want to share with you some scriptures

that I've been meditating on this week that really got me thinking about this complexity in our lives. And by complexity, I mean that we are overbooked, we are overstimulated, we are overspent, and we're overcommitted, and there's so much that's coming in and just not a lot of going out, you know, and our relationship with the Lord suffers as a result of it. And it just gets more and more complex. Well, there's one Bible verse that Paul wrote to the Corinthians. and 2 Corinthians 11 that has been on my heart for a long, long time. I'm not talking about weeks or months, but years. And I think about it probably at least a couple times a week.

Paul wrote to the Corinthians in 2 Corinthians 113, and he said this, okay? He said, but I am afraid that as the serpent deceived Eve by his cunning, your thoughts will be led astray from a sincere and pure devotion to Christ. Isn't that beautiful? A pure devotion to Christ. Now there's another word that is used in translating these verses. The Dewey Rames has it in there, and it says this, for, this is the Dewey Rames. For I fear lest as the serpent seduced Eve by his subtlety,

so your minds should be corrupted and fall from the simplicity that is in Christ. Now, I like that very much from the simplicity that is in Christ. You know, I really do believe that God has called us to a life with Jesus that is really described as simple. It's a simplicity, this simple devotion to the Lord. and how much in our life crowds that out, how much stuff, how much commitment, how much time, worry, anxiety. And before you know it, we're not living a simple life anymore. We're not living from this perspective of simplicity in Christ. Another translation puts it this way.

This is the New American Standard Bible, 1995 translation, I think it is, says, but I am afraid that as the serpent deceived Eve by his craftiness, your minds will be led astray from the simplicity and purity of devotion to Christ. Now, let's be honest. Deep down inside, don't you really desire that simplicity and purity of devotion? Don't you desire a simplicity in your life where first things are first and everything else is subservient to that which is ultimately, you know, important? Do you feel at times that you are the victim of what would be called the tyranny of the urgent? You know, we know what our priorities are as far as our family, our own life, our

relationship with the Lord, our parish work. But what happens is, is that the urgent things in our life crowd out the important things in our life, and that leaves us very disintegrated. If we were integrated, then we would give our time and our passion and our heart to those things that are truly important. And those things that are urgent, but not so important, we're just going to have to wait on the side. And that's one thing that we don't like to do very much is we don't like to let people down. So we let ourselves down. We let our family down. We let our spouse and our friends down because we don't want to let people out there down. So we say yes to everything instead of the important things that God has called us to, like spend time with your spouse or your children,

or number one, spend time with the Lord, right? And so these urgent things, they crop up in our life and we put aside our children and we put aside our devotion to the Lord, this simple devotion to the Lord, and we tend to these other urgent things. And the truth is, and I've seen this over the years, those urgent things were not as consequential as my children or my marriage or my own soul and the peace that I can gain from being with the Lord. And so that's something that we have to think about is the tyranny of the urgent and are we going to allow the urgent to run our life or will the priorities in our life, which we don't live by priorities. We have a priority, which is Christ. We've talked about that on past shows quite a few times, actually, that priorities, plural, will take the life out of you.

Because you say, well, I've got 10 priorities. Well, then you've got 10 priorities. That means you don't have a priority. What do you mean, Jeff? I have 10 priorities. I know. You've got 10 priorities. That means you don't have a priority.

A priority means one. You have one priority in your life. And I would suggest that today, that problem. priority is to serve the Lord, keep the Lord at the head here, spend time with the Lord every day, and do everything out of that one priority. I said in a show, it must have been 10, 15, 20 shows ago. I talked about how this idea of priorities plural is actually a very, very new invention. It didn't come about, but just a number of years ago. It was always a priority, not priorities. And I think priorities is what causes us to be victims of the tyranny of the urgent.

Something urgent happens and you go, well, that's one of my ten priorities. I better get my time to that. And then an hour later something urgent comes up. That was another one of my priorities. And then another hour or something else comes up. That was another priority. By the end of the day, you're like, I've done so much to respond to all these priorities. When the truth is, you didn't respond to.

to the priority. And that is Jesus Christ. The priority. Tyranny of the urgent. You know, let me ask you a question. And we will get to an answer here and give you, you know, some ideas as to what you might be able to do about this. But I do have a question for you.

How many, how many times have you said to yourself, I wish I could have 30 hours to the day? Be honest. Have you ever said that? I think I could use 30 hours instead of 24. I could use 30 hours. If I only had six more hours in my day, man, life would be easy. Seriously?

Are you deceiving yourself? How many times have you been at home or work and you have unwritten letters, unvisited friends, a room or drawer by the refrigerator that needs to be cleaned out, a book or pile of books that you want to read? Would 30 hours really solve your problem? No. you know it wouldn't 50 wouldn't the truth is that most of us would be just as frustrated as we are now with 24 hours because the number of hours in a day is not our problem neither is it our solution the number of hours in a day has absolutely nothing to do with you living a simple devoted life to jesus when we stop to evaluate we realize that our dilemma goes deeper than a shortage of time. Let's be honest. It is basically the problem of

priority, not priorities. Hard work doesn't hurt us. In fact, I found that after a long day of hard work, particularly physical work, you feel exhausted, but that that weariness is matched by oftentimes a deep sense of satisfaction and joy. You know what I mean? You get an honest day's work and you feel pretty good about it. Are you tired? Yes, but you're not anxious. and you are not beaten down. The truth is that not hard work, but doubt and misgivings and tending to the urgent things rather than the priority or the most important thing in your life, that is what produces anxiety. And as we review a month or six months or a year of our life, we can become literally oppressed

by the pile of unfinished tasks in our life. And that's where we have that feeling of being disintegrated, disintegrated. We sense that we have failed to do the important things in our life, as one man said. The winds of other people's demands have driven us onto a reef of frustration. I'll say that again. The winds of other people's demands have driven us onto a reef of frustration. and what happens if we have left undone those things which we ought to have done? And we have done those things which we ought not to have done,

well, then you fall apart. That's when you feel anxious, tired, worn out. And as believers, as Christians, as Catholic believers, our greatest danger is letting the urgent things crowd out the important things in our life. And so you need to ask yourself, question today what are the important things in your life we have one priority and that is to serve the lord our god with all of our heart in every area of our life put him first serve him from that point every aspect of our life will be touched but what are the important things in your life

is it uh is it a hobby probably not there's probably things ahead of that well the problem is that the important things rarely need to be done, right? It rarely need to be done today or even this week. Prayer, Bible reading, fellowship with other believers, going over to the neighbors to them, spending a few minutes with your child, take a walk around the pond with your spouse, but the urgent tasks, oh, did they scream, grab our attention every day. Look at me! Look at me! They scream out, tend to me. we have become slaves to the tyranny of the urgent. We do the urgent because of two things.

Number one, we don't know what's important. That's one of the reasons that we tend to the urgent things. Number one, we don't know what's important. We don't have overriding a priority that constrains us. And number two, we don't sanctify time as holy. I'll spend more time on that and pardon the pun, but in just a moment. But those are two reasons.

I imagine you could come up with more for sure if we thought about it long enough. But two will suffice for now. Number one, we don't know what is really important. That's one of the reasons. And then secondly, secondly, we become slaves to the tyranny of the urgent because, well, because we don't sanctify time. We don't look at time as holy, as distinct, separate, to be used in the proper way. We see it as common.

We see it as something that we can kill. We can waste. And maybe killing and wasting time and then spending the rest of your time doing things that are not related to the really important will leave you in that feeling of loser. Right. I've been there before. Not judging you. I'm just saying I've been there. So what is tyranny?

Well, when someone has absolute power and control over your life, that's tyranny. And I'm using it in the sense of the urgent, having control over your life, the urgent, dominating. and controls your life. So is there any escape? Oh, yes. Oh, yeah. There is. And we'll take a look at that right after this break. You're listening to the Jeff Kaven show. I'm my name's 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 air and the Catechism in the air. 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. Just incredible. You also get the entire text of the catechism of the Catholic Church,

as long with the Catechism in your podcast, 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. 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 Ascension's 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. All right. Welcome back. Oh, wow, have I been in the scriptures this week in John's Gospel? And that's where the solution I think is going to come from, at least in our discussion today. Again, wow, we could go on for like three months, couldn't we, on how to simplify your life? By the way, I was looking in the catalog of these last 376 shows. I think I have five shows on simplicity, five or six.

So if you go back and just do a search on those shows, there are a number of them that I did on simplicity, but they have so many shows. I can't do that on the fly for you right now. But they're there. But let's focus on this for right now, okay? Is there anything that we can do about it? Absolutely.

One thing that we can do is establish the fact that there needs to be some time and some space in my life every single day where I can get it together, where I can stop the movement, take a look at what is on my plate, and go to the Lord in prayer and ask the Lord to help us to prioritize our life in terms of tasks. and that those things that we see is very important to do would be in line with that one priority of your life, which is to serve the Lord and to do what he has given you to do in your family, your marriage, your children, certainly at work at the same time. But I think that the answer to the complexity of our life this week is Jesus. That's the key. It really is the key. Now, I want to turn your attention to John Chapter 17 because I've gleaned a couple of things out of here that have really made me think this week. And I want to share them with you, and I hope they make you think as well.

You know, John Chapter 17 is known among theologians as the high priestly prayer. It is an extraordinary chapter where Jesus kind of goes off and he addresses the father with the most intimate, the sweetest. words of any prayers I've heard. And in those prayers, in what he's saying, in John chapter 17, he talks about where we should be living our life and how purpose and meaning can come out of our life if we're living in the right place, which I'll cut to the chase, is the Trinity, is the Trinity. And he explains all this. In John chapter 17, he starts off in verse four, And he says something that I know that you wish you could say. And that is this.

He's praying, remember. And he says, Father, I completed the work you gave me to do. Amen to that, right? Wouldn't that be nice? Father, I completed the work you gave me to do. Now, I'm assuming the father gave him quite a bit of work to do. Jesus is God, second person of the Trinity. And here's Jesus saying back to the Father, I completed it.

I have completed the work you gave me to do. Now, naturally, there is more to do here because Jesus isn't at the cross yet and the burial and the resurrection. But he's saying this prayer that I'm completed the work you've given me to do. And so how could Jesus speak of his ministry as completed? Well, his three-year ministry seems short. He ministered to many people, but for every lame man who became well, there were hundreds left behind. Of all the people who were blind, only a few had their eyes opened. He did what God was calling him, what his father was calling him to do at that time.

Yet on the last night with the disciples, with much work undone, he had peace. He knew. He had finished God's work for him, his father's work. Now there are two sections of John 17 that I want to walk through with you that I think are, man, they're marvelous. And again, I'm not giving you 15 or 20 points here on how to simplify your life. I just want to share a couple of points here that I think can make a difference. You know that you need time every day in prayer to be with the Lord. I've gone over this over and over and over and over and over and that we need a time every day that we meet with Jesus.

We get into His Word. We pray. We meditate. And we ask him to speak to us every day. It's called Lexio Divina, Lexio Divina, to read the divine word and listen to God speak to us. If you're not going to do that, then we're going to have to turn to pop psychology and some other things just to take the edge of the edge of the end. You know, smooth the edges a bit. But we won't be able to get to the heart of it unless you're willing to engage with Jesus

and spend that time with him every single day. And I'm just being honest with you. Again, not judging, just being honest. And that is that if we're not going to do the basics of what he did, then, well, good luck. I mean, I hope you find something out there, you know, on the YouTubes at the library, wherever. but this is the Jesus way right here. Listen to what he says here. In the first section of the two-part section of John 17,

in verses 11 through 19, he says this, lifting up his eyes to heaven, and we just had this in a reading, lifting up his eyes to heaven, Jesus prayed saying, Holy Father, keep them in your name that you have given me so that they may be one

just as we are one. When I was with them, I protected them in your name that you gave me, and I guarded them, and none of them was lost, except the son of destruction. It's Judas. In order that the scripture might be fulfilled, but now I am coming to you. I speak this in the world so that they may share my joy completely. Then listen to what he says here. He says, I gave them your word.

I gave them your word, Father. Now, this is a part of returning to that simplicity of devotion to the Lord. I gave them your word and the world hated them because they do not belong to the world any more than I belong to the world. And then he says, I do not ask that you take them out of the world. In other words, the Lord doesn't have this, you know, this sudden rapture out of the world to take us out of these problems, does he? No, he says, I'm not asking you to take them out of the world, but that you keep them from the evil one. They do not belong to the world, father, any more than I belong to the world. And then he says it, here it is now.

He says, consecrate them in the truth. Consecrate them in the truth. Now, you know what that word means when you talk about consecrate them? That word consecrate is an interesting word. and it really has to do with setting apart as holy. It's to be distinct. It's to be different. It is to be other.

It is to be holy. And Jesus says, Father, consecrate them. Make them holy. Make them different. Make them separate in the truth. What's truth? To borrow a phrase from Pilate.

Well, Jesus tells us what it is. He says, consecrate them in the truth. Your word is truth. And so what Jesus is praying to the Father about you is this. He's saying, I want them to be separated from the world. Now, that doesn't mean that we're not in the world, but we're not of the world. But I want them to be separated, holy, distinct. I want that to happen through the word that I have given them.

I have given them your word. And through that word, they will be holy and separate. not just because they read it or heard it, but because they did it. If you're looking for simplicity in your life, if you're looking for that simple devotion to Jesus, that the enemy would love to beguile you and take it from you and make your life complex, which by the way, sin will come make your life complex. But if that's where you're at in that complexity, then God wants to bring that simple devotion and simplicity to you,

that which the enemy tries to take away, and how he wants to consecrate you in His Word. So I got to ask you the question. And I'm just being a brother here. I'm being honest. Are you in His Word? This week, how many times did you grab that well-worn Bible of yours and sit down and read and talk to Jesus?

Or does the beat just go on? You don't have to say it out loud between you and God. So consecrate them in the truth. Your word is truth. As you sent me into the world, so I sent them into the world. Another point there. First one, consecrate them in your word. Second, he says, I sent them out into the world the way you sent me, father, out into the world.

And how is that? Well, it's easy. In Matthew 3. in Matthew 3 we have Jesus going down in the Jordan River in baptism comes up, Holy Spirit comes down upon him, the dove. That's baptism and confirmation. That's how Jesus began his public ministry. That's how you begin your public ministry as well. You need the graces.

You need the graces. You need the graces of baptism. And you certainly need the power of confirmation, right? And then he goes on and says, and I consecrate myself. for them. Isn't that beautiful? Jesus says, I consecrate myself. I separate myself. I make myself available for their sake, for them so that they also may be consecrated in truth. That is such a beautiful thing because when you look at this from the 10,000 foot level, what you're going to see is that Jesus is consecrating himself for you, giving his time, his energy,

All of that for you, and now you are consecrating yourself for him. It's like marriage. It's not a contract. It's a marriage we're giving ourselves to each other. It's an exchange, not of goods, but an exchange of persons. Now, in the second part of John 17 in verses 20 through 26, listen to this. And there's one phrase in here, you may not have heard before. Or if you did, maybe it didn't hit you like it's hit me this week.

You ever had those times when you hear the Word of God on Sunday? And then I'll think myself, man, I don't remember hearing that. And I'll lean over to Emily and say, is that in that? Man, I haven't paid attention to that, I guess. Well, this might be one of them. Listen to what he says. Lifting up his eyes to heaven, Jesus prayed, saying, I pray not only for these, those disciples, but also for those who will believe in me through their word.

That happens to be you, because through their word, down through the ages, you got a hold of it. That's you. So that they may all be one as you, Father, are in me and I in you. Isn't that beautiful? So what we see in the Trinity is the Father loves the Son, the Son loves the Father, and the love, the love, that which emanates from the Father and the Son is the Holy Spirit. And what Jesus is saying is He's saying, Father, I'm in you and you're in me, and I want them to be in us. That's the life of the Trinity.

Read the first paragraph of the Catechism. He wants to share his divine life with you. Oh, we cannot afford to complicate our lives when the stakes are so high. and to leave all of this behind these treasures and riches in the kingdom. For what? For the tyranny of the urgent. So that they may be in us that the world may believe that you sent me. And I have given them the glory you gave me so that they may be one as we are one.

I and them and you and me, that they may be brought to perfection as one. That the world may know that you sent me and that you loved. them even as you loved me. Father, and this is that, here it is right here. Are you listening up for a second? If you're running, you might just want to, okay, stop just for a second. You're driving, proceed slowly and cautiously. Listen to what it says right here. Oh, it's so good. And this is one of those things I haven't, I haven't thought about this for a while. Okay, let me back up. That the world may know that you sent me and that you loved them even as you loved me. Father, they, they, are your gift to me.

Isn't that amazing? Father, Susan, Bobby, Gary, Jennifer. Oh, my, Mark, Peggy, Elizabeth, Don, you are the father's gift to Jesus. the Father's gift to Jesus. I don't know about you, but that that opens my eyes right there. You mean Jesus, I'm a gift

that the Father has given to you? Oh my. Oh, wow. Have you ever felt like a gift before? It's an amazing thing, isn't it? And so this gift, that the Father has been giving to Jesus, because Jesus wants to be with us forever and ever and ever, this gift, you are given by the Father to Jesus. So let me ask you this. Just let me ask you a real

honest question. Are you living like you're a gift from the Father to his son? Are you living as a gift? Or is it just urgent? Is it just chaotic? Is it out of control? Is it complex? If for no other reason just to live as the gift to Jesus from the Father, we need to get our schedules together. We need to get our lives together. We need to get that priority set and everything in our life should submit to that priority of Christ. And I know, you know, you're saying, Jeff, I think I've heard that before. I think, didn't you say that before like a year ago or or something could have? But we got to do it. It goes on and he continues. And he continues. And He says, I wish that where I am, they also may be with me.

So he's saying, Father, the gift you gave me, Peggy, Don, Sue, Gary, Larry, Emelieu, Baba, whoever, that gift that you gave me, I wish that where I am, they also may be with me. What a beautiful, sweet thing. Say, Father, those people that are listening right now all over the world, they're your gift to me. and I want them to be with me, that they may see my glory that you gave me. When I hear that, that draws my heart. That's the only way I can put it. It draws my heart to want to put everything else aside and make sure I'm taking care of this first, that I truly would be the appropriate gift to Jesus from the Father.

Let me ask you, what else is that important? What else is that important? Lord, we need help. We need help. We need help in pushing aside that which is not necessary. And to grasp a hold of that which is. To establish, Lord, the priority to serve you and to love you and to know you. To have that place every day that we can meet with you.

And hear your voice. And to have the strength to say no to things and to push things aside that simply are not Yes, urgent, yes, important, no, no, they'll take care of themselves. Lord, you said, I guess I'm praying, aren't I? Lord, you said, seek first the kingdom. Seek first the kingdom and all these other things will be added to you. Lord, as we close out this time together, I do pray and I ask you, Lord, to help us to seek first your kingdom, the rule and reign in our lives. May this be a wake-up call today, just some kind of wake-up call to say,

stop, the tyranny of the urgent, stop. Lord, bring us back to that place of a simple devotion to you and learn when to bring those things that seem so important back into the picture if indeed they need to be brought back in. Lord, revive us in our passion for you. give us a new glimpse at what life can be like when you are the priority in our life. Help us to say no to things in the future this week, this week alone, those things that are going to complicate our life that are not necessary

and help us to tend to the things that truly are eternal. We thank you for this in your name. Well, my friend, I really enjoy spending the time with you. I do hope that it's of some benefit. Go through and read John 17. a little bit in kind of a prayerful way. And again, go through those words where Jesus says, Father, they are your gift to me.

And then just ask yourself this week, are you living like a gift? Are you living like a gift? Are you living like an anxious teenager? Are you living like a gift? That's my prayer for you and for myself. God bless you. I love you and I look forward to talking to you next week.