The Jeff Cavins Show (Your Catholic Bible Study Podcast) - What Is Sin and How to Overcome It

Episode Date: April 10, 2026

Are you able to recognize sin in your life? Drawing from Sacred Scripture, the wisdom of the saints, and the rich teaching of the Catholic Church, Jeff walks through the nature of sin, its devastating consequences, and the path toward true freedom through repentance. 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 477, What is Sin, and How to Overcome. Thank you for joining me once again this week. I'm Jeff Kavens and this is the Jeff Kavens show. And I'm happy you're here. We're going to talk about a topic today that everybody really needs to hit head on. And that is discovering what is sin in my life and then very important how to overcome it.

I'm going to give you some basic steps to do this today and that's the easy part. The hard part is actually putting the teachings of Scripture, the teachings of the church, into practice. And if you do that, then you will enjoy the fruit of repentance, the fruit of turning from what is actually killing you and setting you back and placing you into a new arena where you can grow and you can become like the Lord and get rid of all of the things that heavily weigh you down, you know, these burdens in your life. So we're going to talk about that. If you want the notes, which I do have some good quotes from John Paul II, as well as some scripture. All you got to do is text my name, Jeff Kavens, to the number 33777.

Jeff Kavins being one word. And text it to 33777. We'll get you the notes here. They're pretty valuable, mainly because it's scripture and John Paul II. And wow, you put the two together. you've got a guy that knew how to live, he's a saint now, and he has left us so many wonderful, wonderful things, particularly his writings on reconciliation and penance, which I would highly recommend that you get a copy of that. You know, these copies of the encyclicals and apostolic letters and so forth of the last number of popes, they have proven to be so valuable and easily understood if you really give yourself over to it. You can really get what they're in. saying. Sometimes, like with faith and reason from John Paul II, you've got to really buckle down and

do some serious thinking. But by and large, I think that people can get what John Paul the second had to say, Pope Benedict, Pope Francis, and now Pope Leo. And these papal documents are really, really valuable. And they don't take a lot of space on your bookshelf, which means you can read them quickly. All right? So let's take a look at this today. You know, I want to start off with Romans 323, which basically says it all as far as our condition, since all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. James 1, 13 through 15, says, let no one say when he's tempted, I am tempted by God. for God cannot be tempted with evil and he himself tempts no one, but each person is tempted when he is lured and enticed by his own desire. And then desire when it has conceived gives birth to sin and sin when it is full grown brings forth death.

That's right. It doesn't bring forth a bad day. It doesn't bring forth an inconvenience. It doesn't bring forth bad feelings. It brings forth death. Now, St. Pope John Paul II helps us understand sin a bit more. And I'm going to draw from that document I just mentioned reconciliation and penance. Sin affects the soul, for sure, when we miss the mark and we have all inherited original sin from our original parents, Adam and Eve. And the way to deal with that is in baptism, we are cleansed, and original sin is dealt with.

And we're new people. We're sons and daughters of God. And so the beginning point for us as Catholics are the sacraments of initiation, baptism, confirmation, and of course Holy Eucharist. Instead of the intellect guiding the will by the light of truth, what original sin did is it landed us in a state of what we call concupiscence, disordered self-centeredness, and where the will is weakened and the reasoning is darkened. and everything is turned around. Originally, before the fall, the intellect was guiding the will by the light of truth. But then the intellect is now darkened and the will is weakened. And so what we have after the fall of our first parents is a complete reversal. The intellect is not guiding the will by the light of truth.

The intellect is darkened. And the will acts impetuously without gathering all the necessary. data. And so now it's this fallen will, this weakened will, that is running the train in our life. So this is a difficult situation for sure. Thanks be to the Lord Jesus Christ, who has paid the price. He has restored us to righteousness, brought us into his family, filled us with the Holy Spirit, and we now can have, as Paul said to the Romans, the mind of Christ. So in John Paul II's writings on reconciliation and penance, namely paragraph 14, sin is a product of man's freedom, and sin does not acknowledge God's sovereignty.

Let me read this a little bit from a paragraph. Paragraph 14, I think you'll find this helpful. I'll put in the notes for you. The term and the very notion of penance are very complex. When it is linked to metanoya, which is the Greek word for repentance, to turn, which appears so frequently in the gospel. It means the intimate change of heart under the influence of the word of God and in the perspective of the kingdom. But penance also means changing one's life in accordance with the change of heart and thus the whole of one's life is oriented to God. In this sense, doing penance

means converting oneself to God with one's whole heart, breaking with sin, turning away from evil, and turning toward good with the intention of changing one's life. It implies and includes a desire and a resolution to change one's life together with the hope of God's mercy and trust in the help of His grace. Very, very beautiful. A little bit more to understand this nature of sin. John Paul II is just amazing at describing this and illuminating what sin is and how to overcome it. He says that sin is not merely to deny God. No, not just say, no, I'm just not going to deny God.

To sin is also to live as if God did not exist, to eliminate him from one's daily life. So in other words, when you go about trying to live your life and you eliminate God as if he did not exist, well, that's sin. And you're going to miss the mark every time. He goes on and he says, as a rupture with God, sin is an act of. disobedience by a creature who rejects at least implicitly, the very one from whom he came and who sustains him in life. It is therefore, get this, a suicidal act. A suicidal act, that's right, since by sinning man refuses to submit to God, his internal balance is all destroyed. And it is precisely within himself that contradictions and conflicts arise. So that's interesting,

isn't it? As a personal act, sin has its first and most important consequences inside of you, inside of you, your soul and your relationship with God, who really is the very foundation of all human life. And also in your spirit, sin affects your spirit, weakening his will, the man's will, the woman's will, and clouding their intellect. Wow. Well, here's one of the problems that we're facing right now. We're going on, living our life, we're watching the news. We know what's going on. the Middle East. We know what's going on over in Ukraine. We know what's going on over in Venezuela. We've all been watching the news and all of this. And in the meantime, is there a chance that we take our eyes off of our own spiritual growth? So busy being entertained by news and new inventions and toys and everything else and sports that suddenly we realize we're not even paying attention to our own soul. the sensitivity to sin is gone. In fact, that's what Pope Pius X-12 said. Pope Pius X-12 said, the sin of the century,

want to know what the sin of the century is, is the loss of the sense of sin. And this is where it becomes very, very dangerous. By hearing the gospel, you gain a sensitivity to sin. Right now, a lot of people have lost that sensitivity. to sin. In fact, they're not even thinking about it, much less addressing it. The sense is rooted in man's moral conscience and is, as it were, its thermometer. While the sense of God and sin can never be completely eliminated, the conscience is deformed and numbed. Do you have a numbed

conscience deformed? When the conscience is weak and the sense of God is also obscured and as a result with the loss of this decisive inner point of reference, the sense of sin is loss. Whoa. So what should we do when sin stalks us? What should we do? We'll talk about that right after the break. You're listening to the Jeff Kaven show. So often during mass, we can go on autopilot. We are physically there, but mentally we're somewhere else. We're distracted, we're bored, or we're just going through the motions. A lot of Catholics think that the problem's them.

They might say, oh, I'm bad at prayer. I'm just not spiritual enough. But we want to realize is that at every mass, something extraordinary is taking place in our souls. That's why Dr. Ed Sree and I co-wrote a book on the mass called Pocket Guide to the Mass. And in the book, we walk through the Mass, step by step, explaining what the Mass is, what's happening, why we say what we say, do what we do, and how we can more deeply enter into the sacrifice the Mass, and more fully received the gift of the Eucharist. It's a simple, faithful, and small enough guide to bring with you at every Mass.

And if you want to understand the Mass more deeply and pray it more intentionally, I'd like to check out pocket guide to the mass at ascensionpress.com. Welcome back. We're talking about one of our favorite topics, and that's sin, but not just sin. Our favorite topic, I think, is overcoming sin. we're talking about. And I left you with that wonderful, wonderful word when the conscience is weakened, the sense of God is also obscured. And as a result, with the loss of this decisive inner point of reference, the sense of sin is lost. So what do we do? What do we do when sin stalks us? Well,

number one, Paul told Timothy to flee from youthful desires. That's what he told us in 2. So shun youthful passions and aim at righteousness, he said. Faith, love, and peace, along with those who call upon the Lord from a pure heart. So number one, when we find that sin is stalking us and we're being tempted with our thoughts or circumstances or it's a joint venture with other people, then what do we do? Well, the first thing is we need to get away from this. We need to separate ourselves from this whatever. it might be this pattern that has been building and you wind up in a situation where your life is on the line. Okay. So number one, flee.

Number two, if we fail in sin, we must what? We must repent. That's metanoya. That's a turning of the mind and the heart. Go to confession and do penance. So now here's a really interesting thing to think about. and a lot of people don't think about, but it is actually very, very dangerous. If you fail in sin, you must repent, go to confession, do penance.

But what if you don't repent? Well, if you don't repent, then what happens is a habit forms, a habit forms. And then we end up facing God's punishment. Now, the punishment, this is very interesting because, and Paul talks about this, in Romans. He talks about this. We'll get to that in just a moment. But suffice it to say, number one, the punishment is the attraction the sin exercises upon us. In other words, the punishment becomes the pleasure we experience, resulting in what? A desire for more. And ultimately, addiction. You're caught. A lot of people think that the punishment for sin is getting caught.

It's getting caught by others, you know? That isn't. That's mercy. that's God shooting up a flare over your life in allowing you in the midst of your darkness to see who you really are and what's going on. So the punishment is the attraction, the sin exercises upon the soul. And secondly, suddenly everything is backward.

Evil becomes our good, making it very, very difficult to repent because repentance is turning from evil. But now you will be turning from what is redefined in your heart as good, trapped, defeated, and slowly die. Isaiah 520 said, woe to those who call evil good and good evil.

Number three, eventually God removes your restraints and turns you over to your passions. Now listen to this because, man, this is really important. It's Romans 1 24 through 28. Let me read part of this to you. and as I do it, think about your own life. Think about where you're at right now. Is the good evil and evil good? Paul says, therefore, God gave them up in the lusts of their hearts to impurity,

to the dishonoring of their bodies among themselves, because they exchanged the truth about God for a lie and worshipped and served the creature rather than the creator who is blessed forever. Amen. For this reason, Paul says, God gave. them up to dishonorable passions. Their women exchanged natural relations for unnatural, and the men likewise gave up natural relations with women and were consumed with passion for one another. Men committing shameless acts with men and receiving in their own persons the due penalty for their

error. And since they did not see fit to acknowledge God, God gave them up to a base mind into improper conduct. Whoa. Fazing, isn't it? Boy, you don't want to get caught there. You do not want to get caught in a situation where the evil is now good and the good is now evil. And you're believing it.

My friend, if that is you, you need to repent. And I'm not saying that lightly. Your life is on the line. that we're talking eternity here. Wow. Number four, we often think of punishment as a hammer from heaven, but punishment is far worse than a hammer.

You see, God shows his mercy in the midst of our addictions. Car wreck, a lost job, a wife who discovers your pornography and is crushed. These are the wake-up calls that we often associate with punishment, but it's God's mercy. His divine intervention. It's a heavenly flare so you can see yourself for who you really are and clearly see your dire circumstances. So some essentials to overcome this.

Number one, you need humility. You need to humble yourself. To know who you are in relation to God in relation to others, you're not greater than God. You're not smarter or more powerful. You need to humble yourself. Proverbs 1618 pride goes before destruction and a haughty spirit before a fall. Number two, you need insight.

God's word is insight. Church teaching is insight. Psalm 119 105, Thy word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path. Now, St. Jerome told us what would happen if you don't. If you don't get into God's word and do what God told you to do in your situation, listen to this, Jerome said, ignorance of scripture is ignorance of Christ. You want to fall? Become ignorant of Christ.

Ignore scripture. Just ignore it. Be ignorant. Act like you don't know enough when in fact you do. Listen, if you're listening to a weekly podcast or you listen to me daily, you probably know enough right now to know what's right and wrong. I would guess. Number three, the need for a model to get this thing done and overcome.

Who's the model? Jesus. And also, we've got saints available too. But Jesus is the model. He is the way, the truth, and the life. That's what he is. And number four, you need wisdom. And wisdom will come from the teachings of the church. Wisdom comes from scripture.

Start reading books like Syrac, you know, in the Bible, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, Song of Songs. tremendous sources of wisdom. I've often said that, you know, a lot of months, there's 31 days in the month. There's 31 chapters in Proverbs. Why not read a chapter a day if you need wisdom? Fear of the Lord is the foundation of wisdom. Proverbs 9, 2.

And then number five, the need for power to overcome. You know where you're going to get that? Confirmation. That's right. You have baptism, which makes you new. Confession is to restore and heal. Confirmation is to fill you with the power to overcome and live an authentic Christian life. Syrac 5-5 says, of forgiveness, be not overconfident. Uh-uh. Adding sin upon sin. That's a good word from God for you today.

Of forgiveness, be not overconfident. That's right. Humble yourself. don't be overly confident. This is not something you want to be overly confident about overcoming sin. You want to overcome it, but you also want to watch your heart very carefully. Do not be so confident of atonement that you add sin to sin. And then finally, I just leave you with this. It's about prudence. You know, St. Thomas talked about prudence.

Growing up, if someone would have said, you're prudent, I would have taken that negatively. I don't know why. Maybe it's because we say, well, he's a real prude. you know. But when you learn what prudence is, your response will probably be, I got to get me some of that. I need to get me some of that. Prudence. It's the charioteer of the virtues. Paragraph 1806, I'll put in the notes for you. This is from the catechism. Prudence is the virtue that disposes practical reason to discern our true good in every circumstance and to choose the right means of achieving it. The prudent man looks where he is going.

Keep sane and sober for your prayers. Prudence is right reason and action, writes St. Thomas Aquinas, following Aristotle. It is called the charioteer of the virtues. It guides the other virtues by setting, rule, and measure. The prudent man determines and directs his conduct in accordance with his judgment. With the help of this virtue, we apply. moral principles to particular cases without error and overcome doubts about the good to achieve and the evil to avoid.

Mic drop. Right there. Every paragraph in the catechism is a mic drop. And you just got one today. Okay, so that's what I wanted to share with you this week. Pray about it. How does this measure up? Is this something that you can use in your life this week?

Is it something you're dealing with? Is it something you've been ignoring? If you have, wake up. Wake up, Jesus' calling. And he wants you to become more and more like him every single day. Well, listen, my friend, I love you. And I want to pray with you before we go. But I want you to know, I love you very much.

And I do pray for you. In the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, amen. Lord Jesus. Lord Jesus, we turn our hearts to you. you, Metanoia. We repent. We turn our hearts away from what we are doing, what we are thinking, what we're saying, and we turn our lives back to you. And we reorient our souls back to you. We thank you for waking us up. We thank you for directing us and correcting us. We thank you for comforting us, even in the midst of our trials. And we give you that thing in our life that

we're finding hard to overcome. Give us tenacity, Lord. Give us courage to go to confession and mend these ways. To you be all the glory in Jesus name. Amen. Name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. Amen.