The Tricky Temptation Nobody Talks About (It’s Not What You Think)

Chris Stefanick reflects on this Sunday's Gospel from a Benedictine cemetery at a Steubenville youth conference, where the monks buried there remind us that leaving the world behind isn't about the world being bad — it's about discovering something better. Drawing on Jesus' parable of the seed choked out by "the anxieties of this life," Chris breaks down the three classic sources of temptation — the world, the flesh, and the devil — and focuses on the trickiest one: the world, which we're actually meant to enjoy.

He shares two practical tools for keeping worldly desires in check, opens up about a painful financial low point early in his ministry, and points to St. Francis and Blessed Carlo Acutis as examples of what it looks like to hold this world loosely while loving it fully.

Discussion Questions

1. Chris says the world is the "trickiest" temptation because it's something we're actually meant to enjoy. Where do you find that line blurry in your own life?

2. What would it look like to "ask your own heart what you desire" this week — and to check that desire against your desire for eternal things?

3. Arthur Brooks' exercise imagines the person you'd have to become to get everything on your bucket list. What's one item on your list you might be willing to "empty out" or surrender?

4. Chris shares that he'd choose financial hardship over leaving ministry because he values eternal things more. Is there something in your own life you've had to give up — or would be willing to give up — for the sake of something eternal?

5. St. Francis gave up everything yet loved creation more deeply than most. How might letting go of something actually free you to enjoy it more, rather than less?

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Chapters

• (00:00:00) - Walking around the Benedictine Cemetery
• (00:00:52) - The Secret to Growing Into Greatness
• (00:01:48) - 3 Sources of Temptation in the World
• (00:08:01) - St. Francis: What Are You Valuing More Than Money?