“And He entered into the synagogue; and there was a man which had a whithered hand. And they watched him, whether he would heal him on the Sabbath day; that they might accuse him. And He saith unto the man which had the whithered hand, Stand forth. And He saith unto them, Is it lawful to do good on the Sabbath days, or to do evil? To save life, or to kill? But they held their peace. And when he had looked round about on them with anger, being grieved for the hardness of their hearts, he saith unto the man, Stretch forth thine hand. And he stretched it out: and his hand was restored whole as the other.” Mark 3:1-5
“And he said unto them, What man shall there be among you, that shall have one sheep, and if it fall into a pit on the Sabbath day, will he not lay hold on it, and lift it out? How much then is a man better than a sheep? Wherefore it is lawful to do well on the Sabbath days.” Matthew 12:11-12
Jesus taught by His example that we are to do well on the Sabbath.
President Spencer W. Kimball in The Miracle of Forgiveness, testified of this and what we can do today to honor the Sabbath day. He said, “The Sabbath is a holy day in which to do worthy and holy things. Abstinence from work and recreation is important but insufficient. The Sabbath calls for constructive thoughts and acts, and if one merely lounges about doing nothing on the Sabbath, he is breaking it. To observe it, one will be on his knees in prayer, preparing lessons, studying the gospel, meditating, visiting the ill and distressed, sleeping, reading wholesome material, and attending all meetings of that day to which he is expected. To fail to do those things is a transgression on the omission side.”
Unlike the Jews at the time of the Savior’s ministry, we do not practice a law of observing the Sabbath by adhering to endless technicalities and prohibitions. Rather, as President James E. Faust suggests, “God [has] recognized our intelligence by not bringing about endless restrictions.”
To demonstrate this, on February 1, 1980, the First Presidency announced a new consolidated meeting schedule like ours today. With this change was shared this explanation.
“A greater responsibility will be placed upon the individual members and families for properly observing the Sabbath day. More time will be available for personal study of the scriptures and family-centered gospel study.
“Other appropriate Sabbath activities, such as strengthening family ties, visiting the sick and the homebound, giving service to others, writing personal and family histories, genealogical work, and missionary work, should be carefully planned and carried out.
“It is expected that this new schedule of meetings and activities will result in greater spiritual growth for the members of the Church.”
This greater spiritual growth is one reason we are to honor the Sabbath day.
There are many other reasons for observing the Sabbath. Probably the first reason we all notice is the physical need for rest. Even as a child, I am sure you recognized that on Sunday you didn’t have to go to school, and you probably didn’t have as many household duties to attend to. We can all imagine if we continuously worked hard each and every day without sufficient time to rest how soon we would become ill or overly fatigued and burnt-out.
Similarly, we need Sunday for the regeneration and the strengthening of our Spiritual being. As the scripture states, “The Sabbath was made for man, and not man for the Sabbath.” (Mark 2:27). We are blessed with the Sabbath day. We are given time to stop, listen, and feel, without worldly distractions. We can reflect upon the previous week and plan for the week ahead. We can note what went well and what things should be changed. We can strengthen our relationships both with family and friends, as well as with our Father in Heaven and Savior Jesus Christ. We can put our lives and activities into perspective. We can seek the peace that is sometimes hard to find amidst all our responsibilities throughout the week. We need this time to rebuild our spirit and draw closer to the Holy Spirit so that we can continue down the path of righteousness.
President James E. Faust said on this spiritual regeneration, “God knows that, left completely to our own devices without regular reminder of our spiritual needs, many would degenerate into the preoccupation of satisfying earthly desires and appetites.”
We have been promised that by honoring the Sabbath day we will be protected from the ills of the outside world. The Lord said in Exodus 31:13, “Speak thou also unto the children of Israel, saying, Verily my Sabbaths ye shall keep: for it is a sign between me and you throughout your generations; that ye may know that I am the Lord that doth sanctify you.”
President James E. Faust likewise promised, “In this day of increasing access to and preoccupation with materialism, there is a sure protection for ourselves and our children against the plagues of our day. The key to that sure protection surprisingly can be found in Sabbath Observance.”
A few years ago, I moved back to St. George from Utah State. I had received confirmation that I was doing what I should have at the time, however, no matter how hard I tried, I could not find a meaningful job where I felt my talents could be developed. Finally, I decided instead that during the approaching summer I would go work somewhere fun. My friend showed me a website that listed job openings at various parks and resorts throughout the US. As a rock climber and with his adventurous family, he had traveled to many of the destinations in the West. We decided first that it would be great for me to work near the Grand Tetons National Park, so he would have a reason to go climbing there. I applied at one location, though summer was still months away.
The next morning I received a phone call. I was interviewed and offered a job in less than ten minutes. The catch? They wanted me to finish out the end of the winter season and I had to be there in three days. Well, I prayed and decided to go for it. It would be eight weeks that I could get my mind off of the poor job prospects in St. George.
After much hesitation, I told my mother. She doesn’t approve of spontaneous activities. She likes everything planned well in advance.
I drove my little Toyota Tercel all the way through Utah, Idaho, a state where I spent only minutes prior to that day because my roommate and I decided to drive there one night just because, into Wyoming, the “Equality State.”
The resort that I worked for, Called the Cowboy Village was about 40 miles from Jackson Hole up a windy mountain pass called Togwotee. Mind you I was a southern girl who had never really driven in the snow and here I was in my tiny Toyota Tercel without even a set of tire chains.
It didn’t take me long to feel out of place. The rest of the staff had been there a couple of months. And I was the new girl from Utah and everybody new it. One staffmember’s first words to me were. “You’re from Utah. You’re not a Mormon are you?” I quickly professed that I was, and he took it quite well.
The resort was isolated. The next closest resort was 12 miles away. I didn’t know for sure, but I guessed that there had to be an LDS church in Jackson. I woke up early Sunday morning and traveled into town. I found a phone book and from there the only chapel. I attended my meetings. I was invited to their weekly Institute class and returned later that week.
The next week I decided to give the Jackson 2nd ward a try. They met a little later in the day. I liked that because the roads weren’t plowed as early on Sundays. The next week was stake conference. I had to travel two and a half hours to attend. I went.
In the meantime, I was beginning to doubt my being at this resort. There were activities that the staff took part in that had I been seeing it on TV, I would have quickly changed the channel. Drugs, alcohol, promiscuity. I began to pray and wonder why I was there. I surely didn’t need to be in the midst of all this worldliness.
I finally called my mother to admit defeat. She, however, gave me some surprising advice. Sure, I was in a situation that I normally would not have chosen to be a part of, but I had prayed about my decision prior to leaving and felt confident in it. She suggested I pray again so that I might see why I was there.
Although I could not change my surroundings I quickly realized that I could change my attitude. I quickly began to count my blessings. The rest of the staff lived in a dorm which wreaked of stale beer and marijuana. However, I had been housed in a half cabin which is usually reserved for the resort management. Definite blessing. Despite the snow, I was able to drive to church each Sunday no matter where I decided to go.
It wasn’t until the last Sunday that I was there that I learned my reason for being there. I decided that morning to attend a branch 50 miles to the East rather than in Jackson. The days prior had been uncharacteristically warm and much of the snow had melted. However early that morning, it began to snow. As I traveled down the mountain pass, I hit a slick spot and lost control. I slammed into what used to be a fluffy snow bank. The warm weather had begun to melt it, but the sudden change in temperature had created a wall of ice. I thought for sure that my car was totaled. And of course, I was only days away from moving home. Once the beating of my heart quieted enough to hear the rest of the world, I could hear the engine still running. A blessing.
In my travels that morning, I had not seen a single car. But only moments after crawling out of the passenger side door, a gentleman in a truck pulled up. He had all the equipment needed to pull me out of the impact. I was on the road within minutes. Another blessing.
I made it to church just in time.
As I was sitting in Relief Society, the teacher asked me to read a scripture reference. As I began reading, she realized she gave me the wrong one. However, it was just the words I needed to read that day. Mosiah 23:2. “And the Lord did strengthen them, that the people of king Noah could not overtake them to destroy them.”
At that point, I realized that it did not matter if I was surrounded by people that were worldly and even wicked. The Lord would strengthen me. I then began to reflect on my past weeks there. No matter what was going on around me, these other people’s choices could not take away my peace and the love I felt from my Heavenly Father. I hadn’t taken the time to notice that. I had been strengthened. I had been protected. My spirit survived and even thrived. I was sanctified in an impure environment. All this happened because I maintained my faith and righteousness. I continued to do what I knew was right. I honored the Sabbath day and kept it holy. And because of my dedication, I was protected.
President Hinckley testified of truth when he said, “No matter where we are, no matter our circumstances, we can all be faithful Latter-day Saints.” Amulek also testifies in Alma 34:38, “That ye contend no more against the Holy Ghost, but that ye receive it, and take upon you the name of Christ; that ye humble yourselves even to the dust, and worship God, in whatsoever place ye may be in, in spirit and in truth; that ye live in thanksgiving daily, for the many mercies and blessings which he doth bestow upon you.”
Finally, we honor the Sabbath day because we love the Lord and want to be obedient. We bear witness of our Savior through this obedience. Elder Mark E. Peterson taught that the depth of our conversion is shown through our Sabbath observance. He said, “Our observance or nonobservance of the Sabbath is an unerring measure of our attitude toward the Lord personally and toward his suffering in Gethsemane, his death on the cross, and his resurrection from the dead. It is a sign of whether we are Christians in very deed, or whether our conversion is so shallow that commemoration of his atoning sacrifice means little or nothing to us.”
I echo the testimony of Elder Peterson as he also said, “I bear testimony that to properly observe the Lord’s holy day is one of the most important things we can ever do. It is an essential step toward our eternal salvation.”
I have been blessed in so many ways because of my faithfulness in observing the Sabbath. I know that you can all be blessed for doing the same. I challenge each of you to begin to make changes, even little changes, to show more reverence for this holy day. I know I will. Remember, “the Sabbath was made for man.” Take the opportunity to truly understand that.
I know my Father in Heaven lives and bear testimony that these things are true.
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