Keeping the Sabbath Day Holy

"And on the seventh day God ended his work which he had made; and he rested on the seventh day from all his work which he had made. And God blessed the seventh day, and sanctified it: because that in it he had rested from all his work which God created and made." (Old Testament, Genesis 2:2-3)

Today I was teaching primary sharing time. Our congregation's 5th Sunday topic was "keeping the Sabbath Day Holy".  I told the children that our Prophet and Apostles had been praying and discussing this issue and wanted us to be talking about it.  I shared Elder Bednar's instruction that the most critical time in life when we are most at risk of falling away from the gospel path is after our children are baptized and before they are endowed in the temple.  This got the children's attention as they had never before supposed they were an "at risk" population. 

After much pondering and prayer, the Brethern have concluded that if families do better at keeping the Sabbath Day holy, this practice alone would do more than any other to help our children surmount the dangerous period between baptism and temple endowment. This is because parents who keep the Sabbath Day better model and teach gospel principles by word and example.

And that thou mayest more fully keep thyself unspotted from the world, thou shalt go to the house of prayer and offer up thy sacraments upon my holy day; (Doctrine and Covenants, D&C 59:9)

In addition to keeping ourselves unspotted from the world, I shared with the children 2 more reasons why we are to keep the Sabbath Day. First, Sabbath observance shows God our gratitude for creation. While we express our gratitude to God for creation in prayer and song;  Observing the Sabbath Day demonstrates our gratitude not just by what we say but also by what we do.

Second, proper Sabbath Day observance gives us the proper eternal perspective. While working for mammon is necessary here in mortality, there is no money in heaven.  Every day in heaven is the Sabbath Day where we do Gods will instead of our own. Keeping the Sabbath Day keeps us grounded in the eternal reality of what is of true and lasting value.