Keeping the Sabbath Day Holy

By Elder Eustache Ilunga

Area Seventy

One Sunday morning, as we were going to church, our son, Steven, who was about 6 years old at the time, noticed that some young people were playing soccer in our street. He said to himself, “I wonder why these people are playing soccer on Sunday while they should be attending church?” It was obvious our son knew that Sunday is a special day when we are required to do certain things, and therefore, we are expected to stay away from other things. Steven knew that Sunday is the day of the Lord and that we must keep it holy.

In Exodus 20:8 we read: “Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy.” In Hebrew, the word Sabbath means “rest”. It is important to note that Sunday is a day of rest (of the Lord), that we need to keep it holy since He rested on the seventh day from all his work¹. Generally, it may seem tempting to think of Sunday as our day of rest, and really take a rest, but we are expected to keep it holy. We rest from our work, but we spend this day worshiping God and turning our minds to spiritual things.

While serving in the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, President Russell M. Nelson answered the following question: “How do we hallow the Sabbath day?” He said: “In my much younger years, I studied the work of others who had compiled lists of things to do and things not to do on the Sabbath. It wasn’t until later that I learned from the scriptures that my conduct and my attitude on the Sabbath constituted a sign between me and my Heavenly Father. With that understanding, I no longer needed lists of dos and don’ts”².

This teaching of President Nelson refers to the scripture contained in Exodus 31:13 which states that “My sabbaths ye shall keep: for it is a sign … that ye may know that I am the Lord that doth sanctify you.” President Nelson stated that his conduct and attitude on the Sabbath constituted a sign between him and his Heavenly Father; this applies to us as well. Beyond resting from our daily tasks, what signs do we give to our Heavenly Father to show that we are keeping this day holy? These include going to church to partake of the sacrament and renew our covenants with God, studying Come, Follow Me at home to feast upon the word of God, increasing our knowledge of the divine truth, strengthening our faith in Jesus Christ and our testimony of the gospel, and “doing good”³ as Jesus did good on the Sabbath⁴. In doing so, we receive the company of the Holy Ghost, feel peace, and draw closer to the Lord through this perpetual covenant⁵.