The Jeff Cavins Show (Your Catholic Bible Study Podcast) - What Is on Your Plate?

Episode Date: March 31, 2023

Do you have a lot on your plate? God is asking something of each one of us, but it is easy to become distracted by what else is going on around us. Today, Jeff encourages us to focus on what we have on our plate. Focus on what God is asking of you and let go of everything else. Snippet from the Show Take care of the things that God has entrusted to you. 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!

Hello, I'm Jeff Kavans. You know, since 2014, Ascension has been producing YouTube videos and podcasts, 18 of them a week. Now, while we are making all of those free to anybody around the world, making them is not free. And we'd like to encourage you to be a part of what we're doing. Obviously, something is happening right now in great proportions as God's word is going out throughout the world and want to give you an opportunity to partner with us. if you'd like to help us financially to get more videos out there and to create more free content, we invite you to go to ascensionpress.com slash support. And we would absolutely love to work with you. God bless you. 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 three, 17. What's on your plate? And welcome. Again, my friend, we are here to talk about everything, discipleship, everything, Bible, walking with Jesus. I've got to tell you, I'm excited today. You ask why? Because that's why. I just love, I love talking about the Lord. I love the kingdom of God. I love the church. I love scripture. study and the new catechism oh man ascension's got that thing the new catechism is amazing and i love you i love fellowshiping with people about the things of the lord and i want to talk to you about something today that's been on my mind this week that's usually what i do this is show 317 what's on your plate right now what is on your plate what's not on your neighbor's plate what's on your neighbor's plate

what's on your plate what's for you to do right now and we're going to going to talk about that, what takes us off our game and how we focus on what we're really supposed to do. Because I have found that in culture today, it's more interesting to talk about what's on other people's plates than our own. And it's easier to talk about what's on other people's plates than deal with what is right before us. Okay, we're going to talk about that. All right. Hey, if you want notes, and I do have some scriptures today for you, you can get all of the show notes this week and on into the future by simply texting my name, one word, Jeff Kavins, and text it to the number 3377. That's 3377. Yeah, we'll get you those every week.

By the way, I'm hearing from some of you that are listening to me every single morning every day with Jonathan Rumi on the hallow app. And I do the daily reflection there. And good to hear from you. I love doing that too. Every single morning. only about five to seven minutes, but again, it's another connection point that you and I have. And if you do want that, if you want to listen to that every single day, all you have to do is go to www.w.com forward slash Jeff Kavens, one word. They'll give you three months free. Right, like that, three months free. Okay, so what's on your plate? Let's talk about that, shall we? I want to set the stage here by giving you a situation in the Old Testament that

was very, very difficult. It's in the book of Ezra, and the setting is the return. We have the exile where the northern ten tribes were kind of obliterated. Then Judah in the South, Judah and Benjamin, they were taken away into Babylonian exile for 70. Count them 70 years, 7-0. And then they returned, and something took place in the return that was very hard for Ezra to address really hard. In fact, it makes people talk even today of, wow, really? Seriously, that was what they had to do? What a hard decision. Well, the setting was Ezra and the return of Judah from 70 years of Babylonian captivity. Ezra was a teacher of the word. And Ezra's role was to teach and hold Judah accountable to God's word. And so when they came back from Babylonian captivity,

they rebuilt the temple, they taught the word, and they rebuilt the walls around Jerusalem, more built walls around Jerusalem. Now, Ezra's role, as I said, was to teach and hold Judah accountable to God's word. And during the time of the captivity, get this, there were marriages. Ah, marriages got Israel into so many problems, not marriage per se, but marrying foreign wives who thought differently, worshipped differently, served foreign gods. And these people during this time married foreign ladies. They married foreign women and were being forced to put them away.

Not in the sense of killing them, of course, but to separate from them. And it says in the scriptures here, and I'll give that to you, it's Ezra chapter 9 versus, Let's see, Ezra 915 to 10.5, O Lord, the God of Israel, thou art just, for we are left a remnant that has escaped. As at this day, behold, we are before thee in our guilt, for none can stand before thee because of this. While Ezra prayed and made confession, weeping and casting himself down before the house of God, a very great assembly of men, women, and children gathered to him out of Israel. For the people who, wept bitterly. Chaconiah and the son of Jehiel of the sons of Elam addressed Ezra. Here's what they said. They said, we have broken faith with our God and have married foreign women from the peoples of the land. But even now there is hope for Israel in spite of this. Therefore, let us make a covenant with our God to put away all these wives and their children. In other words, separate according to the counsel of my lord and of those who tremble at the commandment of our god

and let it be done according to the law arise this is what they said now arise arise for it is your task and we are with you be strong and do it then ezra arose and made the leading priests and levites and all israel take oath that they would do as he had said so they took the oath That was hard. That was a hard task for Ezra to carry out. It was what was on his plate at that time. Now, Ezra could have found a lot of other things to talk about. He could have gone down rabbit holes, you know, in so many different directions. But the thing that was on his plate was that these men had taken foreign wives and they were starting the whole problem over again. It's like we didn't learn anything, clear back with Solomon and all the wives he had and the problems we got into and that really developed into the dividing of the kingdom in 930 BC haven't we learned and so there probably was a lot of way a lot of ways that Ezra could have compromised to be honest but he had to deal with what was on his plate so let me ask you this what's on your plate what's on your plate this week this text arise for it's

your task be strong and do it what's on your plate We've already talked about what's in your wallet a while ago, but what's on your plate? Now, Paul wrote to the Galatians, and he said in Galatians 6, 5, for each man will have to bear his own load. Each man will have to bear his own load. Now, when he's talking about that, he's talking about the responsibility that they have to take care of themselves. What's on your plate every man must bear his own load the great stoic philosopher epictetus said the chief task in life is to separate those things that are in our control from those that are out of our control then focus on only those things that are in your control.

Now, that's not a Bible verse, but it was up for nomination. Didn't make it. But it's a very good teaching. Kidding about that. By the way, it's a very, very good teaching, isn't it? And that is that we need to separate those things that are in our control, those things that are out of our control, then focus on the things that are in our control. You can do something about those.

And so we want to talk about that. a little bit. What's on your plate? What is in within your control that you have a responsibility for? Not what's out there on everyone else's plates, but what is before you? What is God given you? Are you married? Are you single? Are you a priest? Are you religious? Are you a deacon? What is your role in life? What is on your plate? That's what we want to talk about. So, At home. Let's talk about that first. At home, what's on your plate. You can worry about everything else, or you can focus on what is on your plate. What is within your control? Give what you cannot control to the Lord. Now, when we talk about what's on our plate at home, we're dealing with things like your responsibility to teach your children. You're talking about responsibility to love your spouse. You're talking about responsibility to grow in the Lord and to take care. of your house and to pay attention to your finances, all of these things. These are the things that are on your plate. What are you going to do with your money? What are you going to do with

your time? How are you going to relate to your children, your family, your neighbors? These are the things that you can control. There's a lot of things you can't control, but these are the things you can control. And so I would ask you at this point to sit and think for a moment. You can even put this on pause if you'd like and sit and think for a moment what is on your plate at home that maybe possibly you are ignoring because you're focused on someone else's plate in Washington or cable news or something else thinking about talking about tweeting about texting about emailing about posting about everything else on everyone else's plate but there your plate is sitting

unattended. This is what I'm really feeling that the Lord is calling me to. Maybe he's calling you to it as well, and that is to mind your own beeswax, sort of speak, tend to your own plate. Those things that you can control. Focus on those. What about at work? What's on your plate? What is within your control? Give what you cannot control to the Lord at work. You've got a job. You've got a job description. Do it well. Work, as it says in the scripture, work as unto the Lord. And one of the problems I think that we oftentimes get into is we get into the game of what's on his plate, her plate, envy sets in, jealousy sets in. We start to question our relationship with the Lord because someone else has more toys. And we abandon what's on our plate at work and we fight other battles.

maybe it's gossip, maybe it's standing at the water cooler. Do you still stand at water coolers? Or do you just stand with water bottles? That's a good question because I haven't been in a place where they have a water cooler lately. And a lot of people will say, I'm not going to drink from a water cooler. So, okay, so you stand with water bottles talking about everyone else's situation. In the meantime, your work doesn't get done. And if you work from home, oh, wow.

you can get distracted really easy with what's on other people's plates and miss what's on your own. And that ends up with you being fired because you didn't pay attention to what's on your own plate. What about your future? Let me ask the same questions there. Your future, what's on your plate? Again, you can worry about everything else or focus on what is on your plate. What is within your control regarding your future? Give what you cannot control to the Lord. and focus on what you can control. This is going to weed out a lot of problems in our lives. So what are the hard decisions that you need to tend to?

There is so much discussion these days about things that are not on our plates. And what's on our plates, as I said, goes unattended. And I know this because I've been a part of it myself. I've been up against the wall on deadlines, realizing that I squander. my time. I didn't pay attention to what I was supposed to be doing because I was caught up in so many different fanciful arguments and group chats or whatever it might be that took me off of what was on my own plate to do. And that, to me, is a sin against justice because I owe my family. They have a right to have a father that takes care of them and pays the bills. My wife has a right

to happiness with me. And if I don't tend to what is on my plate, I'm taking away more than life for myself, but life for other people as well, whether it's at home work or your future. Another problem that we experience is that we stare at others' plates and not our own. You know what I mean?

I have this one problem that seems to always pop up when we go out to eat. We all look at the menu. And Emily says, what are you going to get? I don't know. What are you going to get? She said, I'm thinking about this chicken salad or whatever. And I said, I'm thinking about this tuna, raw tuna salad or whatever it might be.

And then our girls will say, I'm going to get this, this other item. So I say, okay, I'm going to get my tuna salad. And then my wife orders her chicken salad. They bring it, and it is amazing. I look at that like, wow. Oh, I missed it again. Have you ever felt like that that no matter what you order, your wife orders the right thing and you got the wrong thing again?

Maybe not, but I do feel that way. And then for dinner, what am I doing? I'm tending to what's on her plate. Keep looking at it with the hopes that she shares it a little bit, mind you. But I sit and look at her plate rather than what's on my plate. Now, that's kind of a crummy little analogy, but it works, you know, in a way. we're sitting there staring at other people's plates and thinking, you know, that's what I would have rather had. That's what I'd rather be doing than what is on my own. So let's talk about this a little

bit more. I'm going to take a break when we come back. We're going to talk about what is in your control. And we're going to take a look at one story in the Bible where Peter started staring at what was on John's plate. And Jesus puts the old correction on him. You're listening to the Jeff Kaven show. Hi, my name's Father Mike Schmitz. I am the host of the Catechism in your podcast. If you've been following along with us, you know that God's plan for us is a plan of sheer goodness, that he wants to bring us into a relationship with him. You know that already. One of the ways that God actually brings us into this relationship and keeps us, sustains us in this relationship is through the sacraments. Again, you might know that already.

You might further know that so many of us miss out on the beauty and the power of the sacraments. But Ascension has an answer to this. Ascension has created two new programs. One is called Renewed, Your Journey Towards First Reconciliation. The second is received your journey towards First Holy Communion. We know that our youth, they're our future. And yet at the same time, it's so hard oftentimes to reach them with this incredible news of God's love for them in reconciliation, God's love for them in the Eucharist. If you want to check out Ascension's new program, renewed your journey towards First Reconciliation, and received your journey towards First Communion, go to ascensionpress.com and sign up for a free preview.

Welcome back, talking today about what's on your plate in terms of what does God have for you to do at home, at work, and finances, and your health, physical health, all that that's important, what's on your plate today? and are you staring at other people's plates? You're walking in envy, jealousy, wishing you didn't have to do what you have to do. And that young guy that won the lottery, he's got it made, doesn't he? Oh, staring at his plate. So what is on your plate? What's in your control? Let's talk about that.

As far as your home and your work and your finances and emotions, there really is a lot on your plate that is within your control. They used to say, you know, that a man's home is his castle. Now, it's, I don't know what, but your home is your castle. In other words, this is the place that you have been given responsibility for. The Jews have an interesting term for this. They call it a McDash ma'at. Mikdashma'at. It's a small temple.

McDash is a temple, ma'at, a small temple. And you as adults are given responsibility for running that. You're a responsible for the upkeep and the bills and maintenance, all of that. You're responsible for the children. You're responsible for your things like cars and everything else. That's all your responsibility. And that's what you give your time to. You give your heart to caring for this small little piece of the world where these little children are growing up. You don't have children. You're still responsible for that little area there. We could call it your bean field, David's mighty men who fought the Philistines to protect a bean field, right?

And so that's what's given to you. That's your responsibility. You can buy, you can sell, you can maintain, you can fix up, you can teach your children, you can mow your lawn, you don't need a lawn, there's all kinds of things that are within your control. And there is a principle in the kingdom of God, and that is that he who is, who is, who is, is responsible for a little, is given more responsibility. Now, we're not going to be given more responsibility the longer we ignore our own plate and stare at other plates. And so this is the beginning of acquiring more responsibility in the kingdom of God.

Deal with your own beanfield. Deal with your own plate. We are not called to worry about those things that are not in our control. And you have to let go of those things that are not. not on your plate. It leads to stress. It leads to anxiety and decreases your ability to do well those things that are on your plate. Now, that's an interesting dynamic, isn't it? That the things that are on our plate, we use our emotional energy, our spiritual energy, our physical energy, staring at other plates, talking about other plates. And then when it comes time to deal with our own, I'm tired. I'm going to

bed. I'm going to bed. That's a bad feeling at the end of the day to know that I squandered my day on things that were inconsequential. Big Greek word for that. Icky. Yeah. In terms of balancing all that is on your plate, you can trust in a truth told to us by Paul. Paul said this in Romans 828. I'll put it in the show notes for you. Paul said, we know that in everything God works for good with those who love him, who are called according to his purpose. Isn't that beautiful? We know that in everything, God works for good with those who love him and who are called according to his purpose. What's on your plate? What's on your plate. What God has given you is his purpose in your life. And that's what we are to pay attention to. And we know that God,

in everything, God works for the good, for those who pay attention to their plate. So what's on your plate is what you will be responsible for. In fact, Paul said to the Corinthians in 2nd Corinthians 510, he said, for we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ so that each one may receive good or evil according to what he has done in the body, what you were responsible for. That's a powerful truth. Paul's just filled with these things. He even talks about letting go of the past, looking forward, which is sometimes hard to do because the plate you're staring at is actually yesterday. It's in the past. And not only that, it's somebody else's plate in the past. Who will deliver us from this body of death? The things I want to do,

I don't do, and the things I do, I don't want to do. That's what Paul's dilemma was. He says to the Philippians, brethren, I do not consider that I have made it my own, but one thing I do. Forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead. I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus. Philippians 3, 13 through 14. It's free in the notes. So that is really good advice. He said, you know, I'm going to forget about cutting bait.

I'm going to forget about the past. I'm not going to sit and worry about all of that and kick myself. But I'm going to forget what lies behind. I'm going to strain forward to what lies ahead. What's on my plate, what I'm supposed to do, to the goal. for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus for my life, not for my neighbor's life, not for my family member's life, you know, my sisters, brothers, cousins, whatever it might be, but what God has put on my plate. That's what I'm going to go forward with.

And I'm going to focus on that. And I'm going to, I'm going to cut the past. And I'm going to stay on path. I'm going to look directly in front of me. I know, I've seen these, I don't even know what they call them. They're things you put on the horse's eyes. Whatever they are, they keep the horse looking straight and forward, going ahead and in the right direction. And it reminds me of Proverbs 4. It says, let your eyes look directly forward and your gaze be straight before you. Take heed to the path of your feet.

Then all your ways will be sure. Don't run off to the left. Don't run off to the right. Look forward to what is before you and what comes. has before you to get done and don't be anxious. Have no anxiety about anything. In Philippians four, don't have any anxiety about anything but in everything. By prayer and supplication with Thanksgiving, let your request be made known to God. Do you know something I have found in all the years that I have been teaching and for 12 years as a pastor before coming back into the Catholic

church that a lot of anxiety and a lot of depression and discouragement comes when people pay attention to other people's lives and they don't get done in their own life what they're supposed to be doing anxiety can attack don't let that happen we have no anxiety about anything but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to god and finally let me let me share this with you i think this is one of the the really power powerful messages from Jesus regarding two of his super-duper disciples, Peter and John, who were, Peter was sort of paying more attention to John and what Jesus was doing with John and what John's home was like, his futures like everything, and Jesus had to straighten him out

on this. Now listen to this. It's in John 21, and it says, truly, truly, I say to you, he's saying this to Peter, the first pope, when you were young, you girded yourself, and walked where you would. But when you are old, you will stretch out your hands, and another will gird you and carry you where you do not wish to go. This, he said, to show by what death he was to glorify God. And after this, he said to him, follow me. Peter turned and saw following them the disciple whom Jesus loved,

who had lain close to his breast at the supper and said, Lord, who is it that's going to betray? you. When Peter saw him, he said to Jesus, Lord, what about this man? It's him. John, Jesus said to him, if it is my will that he remain until I come, what is that to you? Follow me. And so I want to leave you with those words today. Whatever you're thinking about on somebody else's plate, I want you to hear those words from the Lord. If it be my will that that stuff is on his plate, what is that to you? You, follow me. You pay attention to what is on your plate. You be faithful in all that I have given you. And if there's more time left over, maybe we'll do some other things. But until then, take care of what I've

given you. My friend, I have just given you in this one show, one of the big secrets to life and a happy life. And that is to take care of what God is entrusted to you as a servant. You don't own anything. It all belongs to the Lord. We're answerable to the Lord. And so we are servants of the Most High God. Let's pay attention to what he has given us, shall we? Again, if you want the show notes, it's my name, Jeff Kaven's one word, to the number, text the number, to the number 3377. Let me pray for you in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. Amen. Jesus, we love you so much. thank you that you have called us. You've given each one of us, Lord, things to do and to take care of that are the same in the sense of the body of Christ, but very different in terms of our own

individual lives. Help us, Lord, to focus on what's on our plate and not what's on everybody else's plate. Help us not to walk in envy or jealousy, but to receive as a blessing all that you have given us, knowing that you will never forsake us and you will provide our needs in perpetuity. Lord, help us to trust in you with this. We pray in Jesus' name, amen. Name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. Amen.