Several years ago as I sat in a motivational business seminar, the presenter said, “If you keep on doing what you have been doing, you’ll keep on getting what you have been getting.” I thought it was the most profound statement I had heard in a while and that the speaker was a business genius, until I started sharing the statement with others and heard comments like, “My grandmother used to tell me that all the time.” Regardless of the statement’s origin, it still holds profound truth. Many people want life to be different, but never want to change anything to make it different.

The book of Leviticus is a collection of instructions God gave Moses to pass on to the Levites and subsequent generations who would have responsibility for providing spiritual leadership to his people. It is full of rules and requirements, sometimes spelled out in amazing detail. It includes instructions about the Sabbath Year or the Year of Jubilee found in chapter 25. The Sabbath Year came every seven years; farmland was to lay unused for the year to give the soil time to regenerate nutrients, ensuring future successful harvests. The Year of Jubilee was an additional year of rest for the land that was to come at the end of the seventh Sabbath Year. Therefore every 50 years the fields were to lay fallow.

How many times have you heard people say things like, “I’m worn out,” “I’m tired of the same old thing,” or “My life is boring and worthless; the same thing day after day”? In the center of our Bibles, in the middle chapter in all of Scripture, the psalmist writes, “This is the day the Lord has made; let us rejoice and be glad it in” (Psalm 118:24). That is rather hard to do if you believe you are worn out, tired of the same old thing, feeling bored and worthless. Therefore, it is critical we find ways to have some jubilee times in life, where we get away from doing what we have been doing and do something different so we can feel something different that renews us. Isn’t that what God taught the Levites to teach people about the fields? To let them rest so they could be renewed and ready for a fresh start?

Fresh Start for the Week
Each week we have the opportunity for a fresh start. The writer of Hebrews challenged us not to give up meeting together, “as some are in the habit of doing” (Hebrews 10:25). I long for the opportunity to start over every week with a group of people who are sinners saved by grace and struggling to make it through the week, along with some who are on the verge of accepting that grace for the very first time. There are weeks the energy in our place of worship is so powerful it can’t help but give a person a fresh start. The Bible tells us that every seventh day is a day for a fresh start that includes worshiping the One who gives us that chance.

Fresh Start for the Season
Have you seen the Southwest Airlines commercials where something really embarrassing happens and the motion stops and the announcer says, “Wouldn’t you like to get away?” Some seasons of life are more difficult than others. In the middle of a difficult season, it feels like the walls are closing in. Sometimes we need to follow the example of the Year of Jubilee by getting away to let our minds settle. Maybe you can’t afford a two-week trip to Hawaii or some exclusive resort, but a two-day camping trip to a local state park might work just as well.

Fresh Start for Your Life
Aren’t you glad we serve a God of fresh starts? The excitement I experience as I read this passage in Leviticus is about a God who is concerned with the very details of preserving and getting the most out of the earth he created, and yet we are called his “prized creation.” How much more does he want us to have a fresh start? Isn’t that really what grace is all about? “If you keep on doing what you’ve been doing, you are going to keep on getting what you’ve been getting.” The only way to change that spiritually is to take a break and try doing what God says to do. Worship, rest, take some time off, and allow him to give you a fresh start.