The Jeff Cavins Show (Your Catholic Bible Study Podcast) - Time Flies, Eternity Waits

Episode Date: August 21, 2026

Are you truly making the most of the time God has given you? Jeff shares three simple ways to “tweak” your life: steward your time, invest in people rather than things, and seek wisdom instead of trivia, so that your daily choices can lead you closer to 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!

This podcast is brought to you by Ascension. To discover even more free Catholic podcasts, videos, and resources, to help you live your faith every day, visit ascensionpress.com. 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 494. Time flies. Eternity waits. Thank you for joining me again this week, and I'm Jeff Kavens, and every week for nearly a decade now, we have been talking about living our life as a disciple, going deep into scripture, putting God's word into practice, and also kind of reading the sign of the times, and asking the Lord how to navigate all of this.

So thank you for joining me. This week I wanted to talk to you about some tweaks, I guess, you could say, some adjustments in your walk with the Lord. And I think every once in a while it's good just to kind of go back to some of the basics and ask yourself, how am I doing? How am I living? Am I living a good life, a productive life? And when I say productive, I don't mean in terms of this world, but I mean fruitful in the kingdom of God. And I do hope you're having a good day. A lot of kids are getting ready to go back to school, off to college. And so this is a timely show, not only for parents of young people,

but people who are going back to school as well. I'll give you the show notes if you want them. All you got to do is text my name, Jeff Kavens, one word, and you can text it to the number 3-3-777. That's 3-3-77. seven. Okay, so I want to go over three basic things that you can do right now to tweak your life and level up, so to speak. The first thing that I would really encourage you to do this week is to make a decision regarding time, time, a decision to think of time as a treasure and very

valuable, not something that you just waste or something you've got to fill, but time itself is a treasure, and time itself is very, very valuable. I have been in touch with several people over the last couple of months who were diagnosed with cancer, and the doctor told them they had so much time to live. And it's very interesting to talk to these people because their attitude towards time is radically different than what your attitude might be or my attitude thinking that, well, you know, maybe there's 30 more years, maybe there's 50 more years in your life. And so time becomes less valuable the more you think you have. But the problem is, is that you're not guaranteed any amount of time. You're not even guaranteed the rest of today. And that's not meant to be

morbid, but it is a reality. And so there's nothing else on earth. And I'm talking about money. real estate, Bitcoin, and there's just nothing in this world that is as valuable as this container called time, this gift, this treasure called time that we can make good decisions in. Decisions that are not only for this world, but they're infinite. It involves eternity. It involves heaven. Now, the writer of Ecclesiastes, which is Solomon, said in Ecclesiastes 311, and I'll put that in the notes for you, says he has made everything beautiful in its time. Also, he has put eternity

into man's mind, yet so that he cannot find out what God has done from the beginning to the end. And so that kind of suggests to me that life is eternal, and we're not going to figure everything out in this life, but we sure need to make the right decisions and use the time wisely. So time, as I said is not something that we waste or kill as Christians. We just don't use that kind of language. You know, I've got a few hours to kill. That's odd, isn't it? When God has given it to you as a gift, you're going to kill it? I don't think so. So what do we do with it? Well, we redeem it. We redeem it. Outside of St. Pope John Paul II's house, as a boy growing up, there was a wall right outside of the kitchen window. I've sat in that kitchen before. We go on a pilgrimage to Poland. Go with us. And you can see it's not

very far away. I mean, it's just a few feet away from his kitchen window. There was a piece of art on the wall of the church. And I'm going to put a picture of this in the show notes for you. And it says on there, and he saw this every day, time flies, eternity waits. And that's the title of this episode. time flies and eternity waits. Now as I sat there and looked at that on the wall of the church next to Pope John Paul the second, Carol Voitia's home as a boy, he saw that every single day. And I cannot help but believe that this went into his recipe for life. Time flies, eternity waits.

And I'll put that picture in the show notes for you. It was taken right from his kitchen table window growing up. Paul wrote in Ephesians, Ephesians 515, he says, look carefully then how you walk, not as unwise, but as wise, making the best use of the time because the days are evil. Therefore, do not be foolish, but understand what the will of the Lord is. Now, that is amazing. Why do I say that's amazing? Well, I say it's amazing because what Paul is saying is that time becomes the vehicle

where you don't be foolish, you're not foolish, but what are you doing with that time? Well, you're understanding what the will of the Lord is. And that's how we redeem the time, is that we focus on the will of the Lord and we do it. You do it in your own life, you do it in your marriage, as a parent, you do it as an employee, employer, you do it in your retirement. You are understanding what the will of the Lord is, and that is the script for your time. So when you think of what you would like to achieve in your walk as a Christian, you typically, you know, come up with things like, I want to learn the Bible. Yeah, that's a good goal, right? That's a good practice. I want to learn the Bible. Well, think of all the things that come first in your life. And it's typically

the tyranny of the urgent. It's the urgent things. But when we've been given this gift of time, God is asking us to be prudent and to make decisions and put first things first. And learning the Bible is critical in your life. So don't think of time as something to kill. It's something to use. Use that treasure to learn the Bible. You might say, I want to study the faith in the catechism. Well, that's a noble thing to do as well.

And I might add that you need to remember that just learning the Bible and learning the catechism is not the goal. The goal is taking that and then spending it in time, using that in time, exercising that in time. And man, there's a lot of things competing with that. You might say, well, I'd like to volunteer for a mission trip. Great, great. Or I'd like to have more time for prayer. You know, when you ask people, and I've mentioned this to you before, how's your prayer life? Well, the number one response is, well, it could be better. Well, guess what? You got some time. You can make it better. You can enter into prayer, enter into that intimacy with the Lord. You might say, well, I want my kids to go to a great summer camp next year, or I want them to go to a good Catholic school, whatever it might be, or Catholic college.

These are all great things to think about. So what I would encourage you to do, which I I try to do myself. And some days are a little bit different than others as far as success, but that's life, isn't it? So what I would encourage you to do is focus on that first hour of every day. Don't look at your phone or computer. I mean, really, you got a brand new day, you got a brand new canvas in front of you. And the first thing you do is look at Instagram. I don't think so.

Not in the kingdom of God. We want to spend time with God. and that is in line with my priority in life. And as you know, I don't have priorities in my life. I have a priority. And that priority is to be a faithful disciple of Jesus Christ. So when I get up in the morning, that's what I have to go for first. I'd also encourage you to limit social media and feeling obligated to watch what you recorded on the television the night before.

And another thing, and I remember somebody telling me this a while ago, is to guard chunks of time. So if you look at your schedule on your Google calendar, you'll see chunks of open time and guard those chunks of time for what? Well, for specific tasks or relationships that are incredibly important in your life, like your children or your marriage, right? And nothing, there's really nothing as valuable as time, and you can get your money, back, but you cannot get your time back. And that kind of describes how valuable this really is. There just isn't it getting any money back. Now, you can redeem the time, but you have to do that by putting God first and understanding the will of God. Now, in that time, the God gives you, it becomes sort of a temple in time, a place to meet with God. A couple more suggestions for you

to tweak your day. You won't want to miss this. We'll talk about that right after this. listening to The Jeff Kaven Show. Someone shows up in your parish because they're being drawn towards the Catholic Church. Maybe they can't quite explain why, but something is pulling them. OCI could be the moment that changes everything for them, where a quiet curiosity becomes a real encounter with Jesus Christ. But the gap between how OCIA is and how it could be is real. And the catechus leading it need more than a schedule.

They need vision, tools, and a program that actually forms disciples. Invited, your journey into the Catholic Church is Ascension's new OCIA program. 28 lessons that walk participants through the Catholic faith with theological depth, personal warmth, and a focus on conversion, not just completion. Invited includes a participant guide that meets the seekers exactly where they are, a leader guide with catechus formation built right in. A trade book with questions and answers many newcomers might be afraid to ask, and a mass companion book to help them participate in the mass actively,

both interiorly and exteriorly. Our hope at Ascension is that invited will help make OCI in your parish what it was always meant to be, a true journey into life with Christ. To learn more, visit ascensionpress.com slash invited. Welcome back. We're talking about time flies, eternity waits, that great phrase that was outside of

Pope John Paul II's kitchen window growing up. We were just talking before the break there about how time is a treasure and it's a gift from God that we need to use in a responsible way. You are a steward of time. You don't own it. You don't kill it. You're a steward of time. And that makes the examine prayer.

are at the end of the day really important to just take five, ten minutes at the end of the day and review how you spent your time that day. And you might be surprised. And you can go ahead and look on your phone and see how much time you spent on social media. That will jerk the slack out real quick. So number two, I would encourage you to do this. Make a decision to invest in people, not things. That little tweak in your life can make,

a huge difference. Invest in people, eternal beings, those who are created in the image and likeness of God. Those who have heaven and hell in the balance. Invest in people.

Not things. Everything in your life right now. You're in the car, look around. You're at home on the back porch. Look around. It's all going to end up in one place, the dump. And that's the reality of it.

That precious thing will end up rotting and going away. And in the times we're living in, I can tell you this. Your kids probably don't want it, you know. That's why I recommend the Swedish death cleaning method. And that is get rid of everything that the next generation will have to deal with. So making that decision to invest in people and not things, we're talking about God, certainly. Number one, God. But we're also talking about our families, our families, those precious people in your family that are going to live on for eternity. Now, when you realize that they're going to

live on throughout eternity, well, that upgrade in a car doesn't seem to be that big of a deal or that gadget you're thinking of buying or whatever it might be. So we have God, we have family, friends, cultivating good friendships, deep friendships. Did you know that the studies show that people who live a happy life? And this was brought out in a Harvard study, that people who want to live a happy life and do live a happy life have something in common. And that is, they have a small group of very, very good friends. And they invest their life in that friendship. Not just what you can get out of it, that what you can put into it. And then there's the people of the Lord,

you, me, we've been called to evangelization. Put your life in the path of encounter with others, other people that you might want to share Christ with. Very, very smart thing to do. So tweaking your attitude towards time, making a decision to invest in people. And the third thing that I would encourage you to do, and this is a big one,

because people waste an awful lot of time on Instagram looking for squirrels on roller skates and kittens and things like that. And in the end of your life, on your last day of your life, I promise you, you will not regret the fact that you put your time into people and not things. And you will not say on your deathbed, I wish I had seen more cats on Instagram. You're not going to say, I wish I would have watched more crime videos,

48 hours, or whatever it might be, which the statistics bear out. A lot of people are spending their time that way. So the third thing that I would encourage you to do is to make a decision to seek wisdom, not trivia. wisdom, not trivia. In fact, I'm going to challenge you for this next week to kind of keep a log. You can write it down, you can put it in your phone, keep it in your head, whatever you want to do,

but keep a log, how much your time is in pursuit of trivia? That's really, really what a lot of lives end up being trivial pursuit, you know? So make a decision to seek wisdom. And when I say seek wisdom, I'm talking about going, going deep, not wide, but going deep, going deep into what area, into the will of God, an understanding of the will of God? James says in chapter 1 in verses 5 through 8, he says, and all encapsulated here, he says, ask for wisdom.

It comes in many ways. The Word of God, the teachings of the church, the saints, conversations, maybe a dream, a thought. ask for wisdom. And James goes on, he says, if anyone lacks wisdom, what are they supposed to do? Well, Google it, of course. No, no, no, no. No, we don't Google for wisdom right away, do we? Or chat GPT? No. What do we do? James gives you the answer. He says, if anyone lacks wisdom, let him ask God. Let him ask God, who gives to all men generously and without reproach. and it will be given to him.

Now, that's a promise you can bank on there. If you need wisdom in your life or whatever area it might be, it could be raising your children. It could be wisdom in looking for a new job. Start by asking God. Now, that implies that God can speak to you. He can communicate with you. And it also implies that you can hear it.

You can gain it. You can understand it. and so sometimes you'll hear people say well i ask but i never hear anything you know well ask again listen look go deep god will give you wisdom i found this to be true over over the span of decades i have found it to be true and when emily and i are in a situation where we need wisdom we go to god together and ask for wisdom and he's generous and without reproach and he will give that wisdom to you. Without applying the information, though, I got to tell you this, you can ask for wisdom, you can gain wisdom, but if you don't apply the information, if you

don't apply that wisdom that you're receiving, it remains just information. Just information is a cousin of trivia in many people's lives. To those who apply the information, of the sages, the wisdom of the great saints, the wisdom from the word of God, the fruit of that wisdom will come only by doing the truth, putting the truth into action. And then James says in chapter three, who is wise?

Who is wise in the world today? Are you wise? James says, let him show by his good deeds in the gentleness of wisdom. And so there's a relationship between gaining wisdom for everyday living in the Word of God and demonstrating it with the good deeds, how you live, and you apply that wisdom with gentleness. Now, the Bible tells us that instruction is valuable.

Wisdom is a treasure. Wisdom offers protection. it brings success and honor when applied. When applied, wisdom is strength. It is strength. That is a powerful thought. So why should you ask for wisdom? Well, we're independent by nature, aren't we?

I think so. But we cannot solve all of our problems by ourselves. We need help. We need help. Proverbs 4-7, the beginning of wisdom is, Are you going to love this one? Let me just ask you. I'll give you a quiz.

Let's have some fun. What is the beginning of wisdom? Well, we know that we're supposed to ask God for wisdom, according to James. But Proverbs 4-7 gives a little bit of different flavor to this. The beginning of wisdom is fill in the blank. Got it? Okay, I'll tell you the answer. The beginning of wisdom is get wisdom.

Oh, I love it. In other words, start accumulating wisdom. Some people collect coins. Some people collect cars. Some people collect guitars. Some people collect jewelry, watches, whatever it is. Listen, start accumulating wisdom. Organize it.

Father Mike Schmitz and I put together an insight journal with Ascension. A few years ago, you can check it out at ascensionpress.com. It's a special insight journal on how to accumulate wisdom and keep track of the things that are really important. In fact, the things that are so important regarding wisdom that you want to pass them on to the next generation. Check it out. Get you some.

All wisdom is hidden in Jesus. And that's what I want to kind of bring it to a culmination here. All of wisdom is hidden in Jesus. Jesus has given the keys to the kingdom to Peter. The church is the pillar in the support of truth. Listen, we've got it. we've got the wisdom that we need to live. It's very, very powerful.

Hidden in Jesus is all the wisdom of the world. All of it. I love it. But I do want to emphasize that if we are going to pursue wisdom, we have to have our hearts set on doing wisdom. And there's a little formula here that I've, shared over the years with you, and I'll just repeat it and bears repeating, as Peter says, and that is that you can gain a lot of information in the world. And in the last two years with

AI, wow, if people started gaining a lot of information, I think some of it's suspect, to be honest with you. So I wouldn't rely on it as that is the well of perfect information. A case in point. about three months ago, I did a search on one of the AI platforms. And I asked this question. I said that President Trump and Pope Leo seemed to be in the public's eye at odds with one another. Has there been other popes that have been at odds with the philosophy of kings and queens and emperors in the past? And you know what Chad GPT gave me back? It said, I'm sorry, but there is no Pope Leo.

And I started to argue with AI. I said, excuse me, there is. He's from Chicago. And it came back and said, I understand you feel strongly about this, but there is no Pope Leo. The last Pope was Pope Leo the 13th at the end of the 19th century. they said if there was a Pope Leo then Pope Francis would have had to pass away

and there would be a conclave and all the news outlets around the world would have been announcing it and I came back and said they did and then I looked up the date in the newspaper in Chicago and I told Chad GPT to take a gander there, take a look there and it came back with you are right perhaps it was the way you asked it. Oh, no, it wasn't the way I asked it at all.

No, no, no, no. And so, yeah, AI can be valuable in some ways, but it certainly is not the apologetic foundation for truth all the time. And that's an important thing to remember. So in conclusion, here's what I'll do. I'll give you kind of a little bit of a list of some sources that I would go after regarding wisdom, which will help you invest in people, not things, and will help you to be a steward of time. Number one, certainly the Word of God. The Word of God. That is an incredible source, right?

Here's another one, the catechism of the Catholic Church. It's a systematic and organic presentation of God's plan of sheer goodness. You're going to find some wisdom there. I'd also encourage you to go into some of the encyclicals of the popes and more recent popes because there's more encyclicals available to us. But if you're going to read some of that, here's an interesting exercise. Read Providentissimo deus. That is regarding the word of God. That's Pope Leo the 13th. And then read some of Pope Leo the 14th, our current Pope. Read the works of John Paul the 2nd, Pope Benedict, Pope Francis, certainly Vatican II documents under Pope Paul VI, those are very, very valuable. Here's another source of wisdom. Listen to the elderly. Oftentimes the elderly have a unique

perspective of looking back on their life and truth speaks loud and they'll tell you what not to do. And what they would do if they had their life to live over. Prayer is a source of wisdom. spend time with Jesus. Proverbs 2.6 says, It is the Lord who gives wisdom from him come knowledge and understanding. Wow. Good stuff, huh? Good stuff.

And I would encourage you to keep a journal of some type. And whether it's the inside journal or a moleskin or something like that, start writing down some of the wisdom that you have gained and use that in teaching your children or your grandchildren. Encourage your children to start a journal and write down. wisdom for the future, starting with things like, what's a good husband? What's a good wife? So I told you just a moment ago, I'll give you this little formula, and that's this. Number one, get information, get information, where from these sources that I just mentioned. Now, when you

gain information and you submit this to the will of God, you gain wisdom. And that is how to apply this information in life, how to apply truth in your life. That's wisdom. And what's the outcome? Well, the outcome is understanding. You understand it now. And you can stop it gaining information. And then that will turn into trivia. You might even win a trivial pursuit game. Yay. But when you take that information and you submit it to God, his will, you discover the wisdom. of living, and then when you put it into practice, you gain understanding. If you don't put it into practice, you just might be known as a smart scholar or something, you know, or someone who knows a lot about the kingdom of God, but you certainly don't

have understanding unless you put it into practice. That's when you gain understanding. So just a little message today to tweak your life. I'll do it too, and let me know how it works out for you. You know, these shows every week, this opportunity for you and I to come together every week is an opportunity to grow in the Lord, grow in knowledge, wisdom, and understanding. Let's pray. In the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, Lord Jesus, you are the source of wisdom.

We ask for wisdom today in various areas of our life. help us to push aside all the distractions, all the trivia, all the things that are keeping us from really understanding your will. And Lord, give us the courage. We acknowledge you've given us the Holy Spirit to move our hearts to obedience. Help us this week to do that. Lord, we would ask, in the areas of our life where we really, really need it, give us understanding, give us understanding. And may you be glorified in everything we do. We are your students. Lord with stewards of all that you have given us may we be faithful in Jesus name amen