Fresh Start

Embedded in the Jewish calendar of the Old Testament is the ultimate “reset button.” Every fiftieth year, after a perfect set of seven “seventh years,” the ram’s horn was to sound and everything was to start afresh. (See Leviticus 25.)  In the “Year of Jubilee,” as it was called, all debts were cancelled, all contracts reworked, all property titles were cleared, and every working arrangement was to be renegotiated from scratch. There were mandatory family reunions, divinely sanctioned feasts, and extended vacations required for everyone. It was a time of contemplation, rest and new beginnings. While we may never find such a holiday on the date book of our modern avaricious culture, it is a refreshing biblical concept to contemplate. God is certainly a God of fresh starts. He is in favor of the periodic restart. In his generosity, he loves to grant us the grace to hit the “erase button” and start drawing a brand new picture. So if you feel like your life is hopelessly tangled up, or you think you’ve made a colossal mess of things, then call out to the God of the Jubilee, take a day off, and ask our gracious God for a brand new start. You might be surprised at how willing God is to say, “Let’s start over.”

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Christ Honoring Words

While impossible to master this side of heaven, God calls us to give special attention to replacing our errant and superfluous words with Christ-honoring words that make a good and godly difference (Ephesians 4:29). While this requires restraint and thoughtfulness, the primary focus of this command is not some regular strategic planning for our upcoming conversations. Scripture’s concern goes much deeper. Jesus said, “out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks” (Luke 6:45). Proverbs 10:11 tells us, “The mouth of the righteous is a fountain of life.” Inversely, Jesus asks, “How can you speak what is good, when you are evil?” (Matthew12:34). The key to a renewed vocabulary and more edifying talk is a renewed heart which is growing daily in righteousness. If our hearts aren’t advancing in Christ and our minds aren’t increasingly saturated with the truths of God’s word, then there is little hope that our words will improve. This is why the command to “Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly” necessarily proceeds the call to speak to one another “with wisdom,” to engage our mouths “with psalms and hymns and spiritual songs” and to be known as one who regularly expresses “thankfulness” (Colossians 3:16-17). So the next time it is revealed that your words need to be amended or reformed, find your way quickly to spend time communing with God and ingesting more of his heart-transforming word.