Area Presidency Message
‘To Pay Thy Devotions unto the Most High’
What sign are we showing the Lord that we are keeping His Sabbath day holy?
Many years ago, when I was a young boy during the decade of the 1960s, I would attend church with my family each Sunday. At that time, we would attend Sunday School in the morning and sacrament meeting in the late afternoon. I remember attending junior Sunday School and sitting in the Primary room with other children as we sang Primary songs such as, “Jesus Once Was a Little Child,” “When He Comes Again,” and “I Am a Child of God.” One particular Sunday morning, as I sang with the other children, I felt a warmth fill my heart. It went from my heart to my chest, and then it filled my whole body. It was a warmth that brought peace to my soul. In that moment, I felt my first experience with the Holy Ghost witnessing to me that God the Father lived, and that He knew me. It was a simple experience, but it was sweet to me and one that I remember vividly over fifty years later.
When we participate in activities on the Sabbath day that draw us closer to God, we open the door for a loving Heavenly Father to communicate with us—to let us know that He is aware of us and of our needs. He has said, “Draw near unto me and I will draw near unto you; seek me diligently and ye shall find me; ask, and you shall receive; knock, and it shall be opened unto you”1.
When we keep the Sabbath day holy, we also open the door for Heavenly Father to bless our lives. In the Gospel of Luke, we learn of the experience of a woman who had “a spirit of infirmity eighteen years, and was bowed together, and could in no wise lift up herself”2. Even with her infirmity, she worshipped God by attending church (in this case, the synagogue) on the Sabbath day. In my mind’s eye, I imagine her struggling to physically walk to the synagogue. One particular day, as this woman faithfully attended church, Jesus entered and saw her and “he called her to him, and said unto her, Woman, thou art loosed from thine infirmity.
“And he laid his hands on her: and immediately she was made straight, and glorified God”.3
She no longer struggled with her physical ailment. She was faithfully worshipping God, and she was healed according to the timing of her loving Heavenly Father. Would she have been healed if she had not attended church that day? Can you and I be healed by attending church? The scriptures teach that God is mighty to heal physically and spiritually. With God, all things are possible4—but it is according to His will and His timing.
When God created this beautiful earth, at the end of all His efforts, He rested from His labours. He made the seventh day a sacred day, a holy day, a day when our thoughts and devotion should turn to Him. He has commanded us to keep the Sabbath day holy. “For verily this is a day appointed unto you to rest from your labours, and to pay thy devotions unto the Most High”5. President Nelson invited us to consider what sign we are showing the Lord that we are keeping the Sabbath day holy6. What are we doing on the Sabbath day to show God we are keeping His commandment regarding the Sabbath day?
One way to show our devotion to God is to worship Him. In its original sense, the Hebrew word “avodha” means “work, worship, and service” and referred to sacrifices offered in the temple in Jerusalem. When we worship God, we serve Him and we do His work, including magnifying our callings. When we attend church and worthily partake of the sacrament, we are worshipping God. When we minister to those around us, including our family members, to help them to become better disciples of Jesus Christ, we are serving God. “When ye are in the service of your fellow beings ye are only in the service of your God”7. For those who keep the Sabbath day holy by worshipping God, He gives a very strong and clear promise—and God always keeps His promises. He tells us, inasmuch as we do this, the fullness of the earth is ours, that we will be kept unspotted from the world, that our joy may be full, and that we will receive peace in this world, and eternal life in the world to come8.
In the October 2021 general conference, President Nelson provided the following counsel: “Nothing invites the Spirit more than fixing your focus on Jesus Christ. Talk of Christ, rejoice in Christ, feast upon the words of Christ, and press forward with steadfastness in Christ. Make your sabbath a delight as you worship Him, partake of the sacrament, and keep His day holy”9.
While you have been reading this, what impressions have come to you about what sign you will show God? I invite you to act upon those impressions. As you keep the Sabbath day holy according to God’s direction, temporal and spiritual blessings will flow into your life.