Insight for Living

Bill Meyer: Happy New Year. We're delighted you joined us here at Insight for Living. As we enter 2026, Chuck Swindoll wants to challenge the faulty thinking that sabotages the success of far too many Christians. To their downfall, they treat their faith like a divine guarantee of comfort, prosperity, and ease.

But Jesus offered something radically different: a cross that we bear daily. So today on Insight for Living, Chuck will present three non-negotiables for being an authentic disciple of Jesus. These aren't suggestions for spiritual improvement; they're essentials for Christlike living.

Are you ready for the challenge? Chuck titled today's message: Three "Musts" for a New Year.

Chuck Swindoll: I'd like to have you turn to Luke chapter 9. Thinking about a new year before us, I want you to look at the verses I have been thinking about for about three and a half weeks. We take these verses out of the core of Luke 9. As I read these verses for us, let's see if you can locate the three "musts" that appear.

I'll begin the reading at verse 22 and we'll go down to the end of verse 25. Luke 9, verse 22: Jesus is speaking. "The Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders and chief priests and scribes and be killed and be raised up on the third day."

And He was saying to them all, "If anyone wishes to come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me. For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake, he's the one who will save it. For what is a man profited if he gains the whole world and loses or forfeits himself?"

Bill Meyer: You're listening to Insight for Living. To dig deeper into the Bible on your own in the new year, be sure to explore the wide variety of helpful resources available at our online store. Take a few minutes to browse through the options at insight.org/store. And now let's begin the study that Chuck titled: Three "Musts" for a New Year.

Chuck Swindoll: Prior to the beginning of every new year, I have a routine I go through. My year is divided just like yours into each day and each month, and I have found help in a little book I carry with me often that I call my Day-Timer. I know it's obsolete, and please don't introduce me to anything else; this works so well.

And every end-of-December time, I sit down with my new Day-Timer for the year and I insert all of the months. I take time with my colored markings to mark particular dates that are significant in the year to come. For example, I will mark all of the birthdays in my immediate and our extended family and a few very close friends.

I'll mark the date of their birth, the year they were born; I'll also note their age they're turning this year. I will also include in my marking, in another color, the special events that are a part of the year. As I think through the year, it's always interesting to note, as I do this, certain milestones.

For example, our older son and his wife will celebrate their 30th wedding anniversary this year. And I thought how great is that? I also noticed both of them turn 50 this year. I know that she will be thrilled to know I've announced that to the world, that she's becoming 50 years old. My older brother will be 80 this year.

And I look at events like these, and then I back away and I sit quietly and I think. And suddenly it gets very, very sober as I ask myself: Is my life really making that much difference? Am I really using my time wisely? Or have I found myself at this age of my life drifting a little, perhaps a little awash?

Decades ago, my good friend Dave Roper served as the assistant pastor to a mentor of mine named Ray Stedman at Peninsula Bible Church, located near the campus of Stanford University out in Palo Alto. Every once in a while, it's enlightening to turn back to some of the sermons that had been recorded and transcribed into print that both of those men preached. At times, it's a toss-up which means more to me.

On this occasion, the words of Dave Roper, though decades old now, seem to speak in a new way as I faced a new year. He began his message August 9, 1970, like this: "I was walking across the Stanford campus a few weeks back and I saw a birdbath under a bush. The bush covered it so I could hardly see it. It was a very unusual birdbath."

"I usually don't pay much attention to birdbaths. I'm not a bird and I didn't particularly need a bath. The thing that struck me about this birdbath was that it was very ornate, carved from one piece of marble, a delicate, lovely work of art. It had a slender fluted column and a little carved basin on the top."

"Obviously, it required a lot of work. Someone had invested months, perhaps years, in that project. But this unusual, lovely object of art had fallen into disuse. The bowl was now full of stagnant water. Even the birds had abandoned it. And the gardeners had allowed it to become overgrown with ivy and large bushes."

"I went away from the encounter thinking about the one who had made it—the hours, the effort, dedication, and energy he had invested in that now forgotten, useless birdbath. As I walked away, I asked from my heart: Please, Lord, don't let me make birdbaths. Don't let me invest my life where it does not count and spend my time and energy on enterprises that are valueless in Your eyes." My prayer precisely.

And truth be told, I think it's your prayer as well, many of you. Interestingly, we all face the same number of hours. Over 360 days spread out there, unlived, unknown. Twelve months of time that we'll never retrieve. The only retrieval will come from the lives of those we touch or from the things that are marked by that which is valuable in the way we spend our time.

One sage put it this way: "Life is like a coin; you can spend it any way you want to, but you can only spend it once." When Jesus was with His twelve, He often looked ahead, for He was the only one who knew what the future held. And He prepared them with words that were not only truthful, but they were wise.

Because of that, I was drawn to His counsel to His disciples, recorded by Dr. Luke in the ninth chapter, in the center part of the chapter. Just a brief dialogue that caught my attention. I liked it because it was brief, and I also felt it was appropriate because it is so specific. First, the context.

According to verse 18 of chapter 9, Jesus is praying. We read that His disciples are nearby. Perhaps they overheard the prayer, perhaps not. His prayer isn't recorded, but a dialogue that follows is. It's the dialogue that intrigues me. He questioned them, asking about the word on the street.

"As you rub shoulders with others out there and the topic of my name comes up, who do they say I am? What's the word out there?" A number of options came to His attention. And then Peter, for a time when he truly stood tall, got it right. "You are the Christ of God." The word "Christ" means "anointed one," understood to mean Messiah. "You're the Messiah. You've come from God."

Right on, Peter. With that, Jesus launches into a subject they weren't ready for. As a matter of fact, He presents to them, according to Luke's record, for the first time, the whole concept of the cross. Up until Luke 9:23, the word never appears in this gospel account. Suddenly, it emerges.

It must have blown them away. It isn't too strong to say for them it was repulsive. Repulsive for them to hear words like: "The Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders and the scribes and the priest and be killed and be raised up on the third day." Stop. Stop.

We've left our nets. We've left our practice of tax collecting. We have left our homes. We've left our families. We've walked away from time with our wives and with our children. We've invested ourselves in Your life and Your mission, and You're telling us You're going to die? You're going where? Before they could get those words out, He tells them something regarding themselves. Not only do I have the cross to face, you do too.

It's that part that grips me. Before I go any further, you have to remove yourself from the 21st-century cross concept and return to the first century, and you will suddenly be in a very mentally uneasy image. The only reason a cross appeared on anyone's shoulders was because he was going to die.

Today in our century, we hang crosses in churches. We put massive crosses above church buildings. We imprint crosses in the leather of our Bible bindings. We wear crosses in necklaces and bracelets and cufflinks. The cross today is now often bordered by jewelry, fine gems. Unheard of in the first century.

The cross was an implement of death. And don't ever forget that. Darrell Bock has written a massive work on the gospel by Luke, and in that he recorded these words: "Cross-bearing is a powerful ancient image. Rejection stood at the center of that image, as well as accountability to the state. The cross-bearer had committed a severe crime and needed elimination."

"Criminals bore their own crosses as they journeyed to their death. Thus, for a Christian to bear a cross is to be prepared to face rejection and death, even as one remains accountable to God for the path one walks. It means that one has died to the world, separated from its values and lifestyle." To make it repulsive, think of it as an electric chair, or a hangman's noose, or a firing squad, or a syringe that carries a lethal liquid used in a gas chamber, a death chamber. And you'll get the image as Jesus meant it.

I want to point out three things before we look at the three "musts." May I do that? First, I notice this: He is saying what He does in verse 23 to all believers. If you know Christ, regardless of the century in which you live, you're in this. How do I know? Look at the verse: "He was saying to them all, 'If anyone...'" All, that's all of us. Anyone, that's you. That's me.

Early this morning, alone in my study, I inserted my name in place of "anyone," and it put a chill down my back. Use your name there. You do that right now. "If you, Chuck, wish to come after me..." This is written to every believer. You're a believer; take it personally. This isn't just for twelve disciples you've never met. This is to you.

Second, I notice that this is a choice. You may choose to do this; you may choose not to do it. "If you wish to be a disciple of the Master, if you wish to be known as a close follower of Jesus, if you wish that, if you're ready to go all out, then what follows is to you." If you don't, forget it. If you're just kind of messing around with Christianity, this isn't for you. This has very little to say to you. You have a choice, and you choose not to do this. I'll say more about that later.

The third thing I observe is that each of these three "musts" is an essential. Each is written in the imperative mode. Each is essential. If you wish, these things must take place. Another mentor of mine, Howard Hendricks, used to say in our class at the seminary, "Certain things must be that other things might be."

If you truly wish to be one of His own close followers, different from a run-of-the-mill, quick-and-easy believer, if you really wish to get down to business, these things must be. Those who want to stop building birdbaths and start living in a way that makes a difference in their world and the world of others they touch, this is for you. These are essential.

It may help us to know on the front end of this what He does not ask of us. He does not ask that you and I become Jewish. He does not ask that we be male or female. He does not ask that you become a seminary graduate, or that you have a winsome personality, or that you have leadership skills and gifts. Doesn't ask that; that's not required.

You don't have to have a high IQ. You don't need academic degrees. You don't need to be physically strong or gorgeous. You don't need to have spent 10, 15 years on a mission field; that's not required. You don't have to be able to speak well before a group or to be a certain age. All of that is superfluous when it comes to becoming a close follower, one who wishes to be a Jesus follower. Those are not "musts"; these three things are. Mark them well.

"He was saying to them all, 'If anyone wishes to come after me...'" Now let's stay riveted to this 23rd verse. He must, number one, deny himself. If that word throws you, since you'll rarely read it in this culture, think of three words: "say no to." He must say no to himself. It represents a refusal to set one's will and desires ahead of or against the will and desires of Christ.

In other words, when I deny myself, I relinquish my plans, I set aside my preferences, I ignore my personal desires, I give up my dreams, and instead I acquiesce, I defer to, I pursue, I commit myself to Him and His will. Let me put it bluntly. Four words will suffice: Narcissists need not apply.

And we are shot through with narcissism in this culture. Chances are good you are related to or maybe live with a narcissist. Someone whose world revolves around themselves. They can't imagine life without their being the center of attention and attraction. It's everywhere.

Some are listening right now to my voice. Your world is all about you. You are one selfish individual and you hear words like this and you can't turn them off fast enough. Sorry, you're not in the group until that changes. Instead of that, this person says, "I willingly and deliberately put Christ Jesus in charge of my life. I invite Him to rule and reign over me, through me, in me, and whenever necessary, in spite of me. I willingly back off."

"If I'm making plans in my business, I willingly invoke His will in that. If I'm considering a move, I willingly and deliberately seek His preference. Is this move pleasing to You? I'm in love and I am thinking seriously about marriage. I willingly and deliberately bring this person before You, Lord, and I say, is this Your choice for me? If this isn't the one for me, please make it known. I will say no."

It's that specific. Since He is the potter, I'm the clay. Since He is the Master, I'm the servant. Since He is the Lord and I'm the follower, it only makes sense that I go with His plan. Or I'm not really all that interested in that word you'll also rarely hear today: obeying. Obeying.

Few people ever put it better than Chuck Colson in his book *Loving God*, where he writes: "The disciples' realization that Christ is who He says He is compels them to obedience. Listen closely to Chuck Colson's words. Understanding this is crucial, for it distinguishes Christianity from all other religions."

"The Christian faith rests not merely upon great teachings or philosophies, not upon the charisma of a leader, not upon the success in raising moral values, not upon the skill or eloquence or good works of its advocates. If it did, it would have no more claim to authority than the sayings of Confucius or Mao or Buddha or Muhammad, or any of a thousand cults. Christianity rests on historic truths. Jesus lived, died, and rose from the dead to be Lord of all. With that understood, Christianity must evoke from the believer the same response it drew from the first disciples: a passionate desire—here it is—a passionate desire to obey and please God, a willingly entered-into discipleship that is the beginning of true discipleship."

It starts with saying no to the one that you have been taught to take care of, make pretty, protect, stare at in a mirror, and focus on when you're in a crowd. What do they think of me? How am I coming across? Did that make a good impression? If you wish to come after Him, you say no to yourself.

Bill Meyer: Self-denial is one of the three "musts" for a new year, and there's more teaching from Chuck Swindoll coming up on this topic, so please join us for tomorrow's program. On behalf of Chuck and your entire team at Insight for Living, Happy New Year. We're looking forward to another fabulous year of studying the Bible together, learning how to integrate the timeless wisdom of God's word into every aspect of our lives.

While you have a little extra time today, we invite you to visit our website so you can browse the many opportunities for digging deeper into God's word on your own. Did you know that Insight emails out a daily devotional from Chuck that comes to your inbox every day? It's a wonderful way to start or end your day with God's word saturated into your heart and soul. To subscribe to our free daily devotional, just follow the simple instructions at insight.org/devo.

Also, Insight for Living offers the beautiful *Swindoll Study Bible* with several different covers. The study Bible is offered in the New Living Translation, and it features insights from Chuck, ideas for personal application, charts and maps, and a host of other helpful tools. There's even a larger font edition, making every page easier to read. To see all the choices available for the *Swindoll Study Bible*, just go to insight.org/store.

Before we go, we'd like to express our thanks for the outpouring of support that's arrived this week, as we closed out another ministry year together. We are deeply grateful because Insight for Living is made possible by people just like you who rely on Chuck's teaching as a guiding light every day. It's not too late to make an impact with your gift. To send a donation in the mail, write to us at Insight for Living, Post Office Box 5000, Frisco, Texas, 75034. You can also give online at insight.org/donate.

Bill Meyer: I'm Bill Meyer, inviting you to hear Chuck Swindoll identify what he calls the three "musts" for a new year, Friday on Insight for Living.

The preceding message, Three "Musts" for a New Year, was copyrighted in 2011, 2012, and 2025, and the sound recording was copyrighted in 2025 by Charles R. Swindoll, Incorporated. All rights are reserved worldwide. Duplication of copyrighted material for commercial use is strictly prohibited.