Here's the painful truth. As followers of Jesus Christ, we're either climbing or sliding. There's no spiritual coasting. Today, on Insight for Living, Chuck Swindahl contends that believers who drift into 2026 without making deliberate choices will find themselves further from God by the year's end, not closer. Spiritual progress demands effort.
It requires specific decisions about how we think, give, spend our time, and touch lives. On this New Year's Eve, we know that a rewarding climb awaits, in which we walk hand in hand with God. Chuck titled today's message, Time to Reflect and to Renew. Uh Today, we're going to take a journey. We're going to look back.
At a couple of things that need to be addressed. Then we're going to look ahead. Having reflected, We're going to think about renewal. and a couple of things for the future. We don't know what's there.
We know a lot about what's in the past.
So that's a good place to start. Must look there first. Philippians chapter 4. Will you turn, please? We're looking back and we're thinking first about our thoughts.
I'm going to start there. Philippians 4, 8. Finally, brothers and sisters. Whatever is true. Let's think back.
Are you a person who focuses on what is true? The next word is translated honorable. The word means noble, dignified, even above reproach. Number three. Whatever is right.
This word right means refusing to compromise. one's commitment to the truth. The word is pure that's next, whatever is pure. That is that which keeps the conscience clear. Whatever is of Well, lovely is the next word.
A synonym would be magnetic. You want to be around a lovely person. As you look back, Do you find that folks want to be around you? Or have you become crotchety? Negative.
Cynical. Looking for what's wrong, judgmental. And finally, of good repute, the word is admirable. The message translates this. Compelling.
Compelling. The point is this. As you trained your mind. to stay on these six things. Good things result.
When you Do not The result is a drifting, and in the past 12 months, you may find that you have begun to drift. If you turn a corner today and determine from this day forward, that's my checklist. For this new year, I'm going to set my mind on these things. I'm going to renew my mind with these things. I could promise two results.
I promise you. First of all, you will conquer the stigma of cynicism. The second thing I can promise you is the cultivation of several healthy friendships. This new year.
Now I want to talk about Your treasure.
Okay. Look at 2 Corinthians chapter 9. And when you do, I want you to stop. I want you to look at these verses, 6 through 10. And I want you to listen.
Verse 6.
Now, this I say: he who sows sparingly will also reap. Sparingly. He who sows bountifully We'll also reap. bountifully. He's talking about the investment of your treasure.
See the next verse? Each one must do just as he has purposed in his heart. Not grudgingly. Not under compulsion. For God loves a cheerful giver.
So purpose in your heart. What you should give. If you're not giving as you should be giving, you're not knowing the best God can do for you. Doesn't mean your salary will necessarily increase. It means you will know.
the blessings of God in ways you did not ever know before. And the only way you can know it. is to participate in it. And I can tell you about it till I'm blue in the face. But until you look back, And listen?
Read Evaluate and think. as you do your taxes. You know what? It's embarrassing how much I give. It's embarrassing.
If the truth were known. There's something wrong, friend. Do something about it. Trust God in a fresh new way. And by the way, don't just stop with money.
Give others stuff. You and I have more stuff than anybody else.
Some of you have two storage units. You're thinking about a third one. Before long, your storage units are more space than your house. Why? Because you're storing it.
Was it stored last year?
Well, yeah. Did you use it? No, give it away. Give it. You got three cars and there's only two of you at home?
Hard to drive two cars at once. Give one away. Give it. Yeah. What a fresh thought.
You'll unclutter your life. What a great way to live. That's what this is about. As you look back, How you doing in your treasure? If you're doing great, praise God.
You could stand and deliver this part of my message for me. You could tell them the truth.
Now, let's look ahead.
Okay? James chapter four. Let me talk about your time.
Okay, thoughts. Treasurer. Time. We've now come to today. Very few more days, and we're into a new year.
Okay, let's look to the new year. Let's think about that, okay? You and me sitting in your car. Sitting at your kitchen table. I'd probably want you to read what I read every new year of my life.
This is what I read. James 4, 13.
So, yeah. Come now, you who say, Today or tomorrow, we will go to such and such a city. We're going to move to Oklahoma City. We're going to move to Kansas City. We're going to move to Albuquerque.
We're going to move to Seattle. We're going to move to Minnesota. Going to go to such and such a city. We're going to spend a year there. We're going to be engaged in business.
Nothing wrong with any of that. It's called planning. You're thinking ahead. You maybe put your business plan together, your company's grown, maybe you're going to do a branch, you're going to maybe acquire a company. Nothing wrong with any of that.
Everything right about it. You're thinking about expansion. Maybe you're going to open another dental office, this part of the city, along with that. Maybe your practice has expanded. You're going to be a part of a group.
Are you going to go on your own in another way? You're planning, okay? Everything's fine. We're going to spend a year there. We're going to be engaged in business, nothing wrong with that.
We're going to make a profit, that's fine. Yet Hold it. You do not know what your life will be like. Tomorrow. You're just a vapor.
Some translations read this. A puff of smoke. A wisp of fog. You're just a vapor.
Meaning fragile. Meaning temporary. You're just a vapor that appears for a little while. And then You vanish. Instead You ought to say, are you listening now?
We're looking. We've stopped. Listen, you ought to say If the Lord wills. We will live and also do this. or that.
Say those four words with me if the Lord wills.
Okay, here we go. If the Lord will. Do it again. If the Lord will. Make that a part of your New Year vocabulary.
Make it a part of it. Not just mouthing it. Really mean it. Lord, I'm your Son. I trust you.
With my life. If you will, if you are willing, if it's your plan for me. I ask for your direction here. In fact, look at how it reads, If the Lord wills, we will live. That's a start.
And then we will do this or that. How easy we forget. Your one heartbeat away from unconsciousness. You're one diagnosis away from a serious disease. If the Lord wills, you will live.
And then you will do this or that.
Okay? Time. I challenge you in the next 12-month period. To give God ten minutes. Each day.
of your time. That's all. Ten minutes. During that 10 minutes, I want to encourage you. To sit before him.
Pray. Read a few verses of his word, wait before him. Think about what his word says. Think I want your will to be done in my life. Then pause.
Ask him to guide you through that day. as a result of those few minutes with him. only ten minutes a day. May I tell you something, if you commit to that. Your life will be transformed.
You say only ten minutes? Give it a try. If you keep a journal, add a few lines in your journal. You'll think, I can't limit it to 10 minutes, but that's your issue. All I ask is 10 minutes.
Ten minutes a day. If the Lord wills. Lord, I'm your daughter, I'm your son. You are my master. I'm your servant.
You are my potter. I am your piece of clay. I place myself at your disposal. You do with me. You lead me as you wish.
I'm going to trust you this day. Or, Lord, I'm facing today a very difficult situation. I can't handle it on my own. I need you to help me. I'm going to rely on you to do that.
I want your will. I want you to be first in this. I'm not real happy in my job right now. I don't know what it means, Lord, but. If it means a change, I want you to help me.
Let me know. I don't want to run ahead. I don't want to lag behind. If you wonder what to pray about, Just use your body. As Francis Havergal wrote, Take my life and let it be consecrated, Lord, to Thee.
Take my hands and let them move. At the impulse of thy love. Take my feet. And let them be swift and beautiful for thee. Take my voice and let me sing always only for my king.
Take my lips. And let them be filled with messages from thee. Take my silver and my gold, not a mite. What I withhold. Take my will.
And make it thine. It shall be no longer mine. Take my heart, it is thine own. It shall be thy royal. Throw.
Twelve months of that? You won't even resemble the person you are today. Hey. You become easier to live with. How good is that?
I mean, face it, would you like to spend time with Christ? Of course, you would. Why? 'Cause he's winsome. He's all the things we read about.
In the future, you can become that kind of individual. Ten minutes with him. One more.
Okay. Go to the right, 1 Peter. First Peter. Chapter four, verse eight, verse nine. We're all through.
1 Peter 4, 8. Above all, keep fervent in your love for one another. Yeah. That hits, doesn't it? Above all, Above all, Keep fervent in your love for one another.
Because love covers a multitude of sins, and be hospitable to one another without complaint. Here's your touch. That's the fourth. Your touch. I want to urge you, because he urges us.
to be fervent in your love relationship with others. I want to urge you to love more and criticize less. I want to urge you to touch the lives of those you care about. And I want you to broaden the lives of those you touch. I urge you to do that.
One is Loving as Christ loved us, and the other is being hospitable. being hospitable. Making room in your life for others. Including others for a meal. Taking time at work to speak.
to encourage That extra email, that extra phone call, just for the purpose of encouragement. Very, very refreshing to get a note that says, I don't have any reason to write except to say, I love you. I care about you and I'm thinking about you today. Let me encourage you.
Now Okay, I'm a realist.
Okay. I know where we are. It's a downtime. I have to confess, there are some songs I'm glad I don't have to listen to anymore for 12 more months. One of them is 12 days of Christmas.
Three French hens, two turtle doves, and a partridge and a pear tree. I got very refreshed when I heard this last week. A lady who was singing the other side of that. The female vocalist told how the First day after Christmas was different in all of those things. First of all, the pear tree got chopped down.
Second, the seven swans were drowned. The five golden rings turned her fingers green. And the three French hens became Chicken soup. Nice. Good.
This is a downside. This is a good time to stop and look and listen, isn't it? Because there's no big hoop law out there. Another reason I urge you to broaden your life for others. You have no idea what that would mean to them.
Because you have no idea how many, under the sound of my voice at this moment. have given serious thought in this year of taking their lives. You have no idea.
Someone sitting right there in the row where you're sitting.
Someone sitting in your section. I read the last issue of Sports Illustrated this week, like some of you did. I noticed before I ever opened the cover that it was lined with names. that made the border of the cover. And those names were interspersed with the word farewell.
Farewell. Farewell. These are the names of well-known athletes who have died this year. during the past 12 months. I knew of most of them, a few I'd never heard of.
Most of them I knew, some I knew very well because I'm a sports fan and I follow their. career.
So I turn back to the section marked farewell. I saw their names and was amazed. How many of them died by suicide? I won't name names, but one was a 23-year-old football player. deeply depressed in September, committed suicide in his Denver home.
28-year-old was arrested on charges of stabbing his wife to death. He hanged himself in a jail cell. Before he ever went on trial. 49-year-old died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound shortly after his wife suffered a stroke. Very well-known athlete.
25-year-old young woman Golfer. committed suicide at her home in Henderson, Nevada. 25. Years young. 42-year-old Track Star committed suicide in August.
Thirty-two-year-old surfer. Died in a Dallas hotel room. Cause of death. appropriately undetermined. Part of the reason I brought this message today was because of the stunning effect that had on me.
Your touch On the life of another that's genuine. Loving. Caring. could keep them alive. That'll make it.
massive difference in the way you run your company. or the way you treat your employees. Or the way you work with your staff. or the way you cultivate friendship with your neighbors. Who knows how many inside those homes?
Have a loaded gun. Who knows? Serious stuff in it, sobering. Let's bow our heads together. Your thoughts?
Your treasurer. Your time. Your touch. You've stopped today. You've looked with me into this ancient inspired book.
You look like you've listened. Time will tell. My hope is that every person hearing these words. will address the checklist for your thought life. Every person We'll come to terms with you, Treasure.
Releasing more and more. Remember, we're all going out broke. Every person We'll set aside ten minutes. Each day. Don't tell anybody else about it.
Just do it. Your will be done, Lord. Every person. Touching. A few more lives.
In the midst of the conviction, our Father, I pray that decisions will be made that will be life-changing. And as a result of this day, You will find us meeting with you faithfully. Regularly. Albeit briefly. when you will guide us into your will.
Help us with the priorities we choose. Decisions we make. Thoughts we cultivate. Friends we reach out to. Make us into people who are true, and honest, and just, and pure, and lovely.
And compelling. I pray for Jesus' sake. and for his glory. Let it. All his people said.
Amen. Oh yeah. This is Insight for Living, and with Chuck Swindahl's closing prayer, we conclude a three-day study that he called Time to Reflect and to Renew. Tomorrow, on New Year's Day, Chuck turns the page with another special message. He'll describe what he calls three musts for a new year.
We invite you to join us on Thursday as we ring in the New Year together. We'll hear a closing comment from Chuck in just a moment, and I'll tell you about multiple ways that you can get in touch with us before the giving deadline at midnight tonight. grab a pen or pencil so you can jot down our contact information. Chuck?
Well, this is it. The final day of the year. Tomorrow morning you'll wake up to a brand new year. with all its promises and all its problems. You don't know what the New Year holds.
None of us do. there will be joys you can't yet imagine. and challenges you haven't anticipated. There will be days when your faith feels strong, and days when you wonder if you can take another step. But here's what I want you to know.
Insight for living will be there with you every single day. When you're driving to work on a difficult Monday morning, we'll be there. When you're facing a decision and need God's wisdom, we'll be there. when loneliness threatens to overwhelm you, or when cynicism starts to take root, or when you need some one to remind you of God's unchanging faithfulness, We'll be there. joining you on your daily journey.
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And you can give online at insight.org slash donate. I'm Bill Meyer, inviting you to hear Chuck Swindahl identify what he calls three musts for a new year. Thursday on Insight for Living. The preceding message, Time to Reflect and to Renew, was copyrighted in 2010, 2012, and 2025. And the sound recording was copyrighted in 2025 by Charles R.
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