Today is the Sabbath, or the Lord’s Day, as we refer to it after Jesus’ resurrection Day. How can we honor this day, and treat it differently from any other day of the week?
In Genesis 2: 1-3, You set the pattern for us:
Thus the heavens and the earth were finished, and all the host of them. 2 And on the seventh day God finished his work that he had done, and he rested on the seventh day from all his work that he had done. 3 So God blessed the seventh day and made it holy, because on it God rested from all his work that he had done in creation.
Father, we were made in your image. We are to work six days and rest from our work on the seventh.
As one of the Ten Commandments, you tell us in Exodus 20: 8-11:
Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. 9 Six days you shall labor, and do all your work, 10 but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the Lord your God. On it you shall not do any work, you, or your son, or your daughter, your male servant, or your female servant, or your livestock, or the sojourner who is within your gates. 11 For in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested on the seventh day. Therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy.
Father, how should we treat the Sabbath or Lord’s Day? Or, to say it another way, what should we do, or not do on this day, while most of our culture sees this as just another day.
Father, let us make this a day or worship and rest. Let us abstain from work if it be possible. Let this be a day of worshipping you, privately and publicly, spending time with family and friends and performing duties of necessity and mercy.
We pray in Jesus’ precious name, Amen