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The Sabbath: A Day of Healing

When Church leaders called members’ attention to a need for greater conversion and faith among its members, they focused on one thing that would strengthen faith: Sabbath-day observance. “Of all of the organizational or policy changes or doctrinal training that could hasten the work of salvation at this time,” said Elder M. Russell Ballard, “we have determined that elevating the spirit and power of the Sabbath day would be most influential in drawing members and families closer to the Lord Jesus Christ” (“The Sabbath Day”).

With so many faith-promoting commandments, Sabbath-day observance may seem an unexpected focus. But the Sabbath has been central to worship from the beginning. God rested on the seventh day of the creation. And just before the Lord gave Moses the stone tablets, He explained the importance of the Sabbath: “Wherefore the children of Israel shall keep the sabbath, to observe the sabbath throughout their generations, for a perpetual covenant” (Exodus 31:15; see also Exodus 31:12–17).

With this focus on the Sabbath, how have you made observance of the Sabbath more deliberate? How have you been part of this “perpetual covenant”? Over the years, many have spoken about the Sabbath at BYU. Here are some thoughts that may help you sow Sabbath-day observance into your heart.

A Healing Power

            In an April 1980 devotional, Loren C. Dunn, then a member of the First Quorum of the Seventy, shared how the Sabbath can heal our souls:

There is a spirit about this day that will truly heal the soul. The day should center around the partaking of the sacrament, during which we can shed harmful thoughts and actions and receive an increase of the Spirit. The Sabbath can heal us for the week ahead. Don’t just keep the Sabbath, but catch the spirit of the Sabbath.

The Sabbath can heal us for the week ahead. -Loren C. Dunn (designed quote)

Refreshing Mondays

In an October 1985 fireside titled “Choose You This Day Whom Ye Will Serve,” Elder L. Tom Perry shared one way to test if your Sabbath has been a day of rest:

Six days of labor are to be followed by a day of rest. It seems to me that the judge should be how we come out of bed on Monday morning. If you just crawl out, feeling tired and weary from a heavy weekend, probably the Sabbath-day observance has not been appropriate. You see, I believe you should come up out of those covers on Monday morning more refreshed, more alive, and more enthused than on any other day of the week. If this is not the case, we had better examine what we are doing on the Sabbath day. Test yourself tomorrow morning and see how you come out of bed.

An Invitation to Come

Linguistics and English language professor Neil J. Anderson spoke at a BYU devotional in May 2007 on the power of the Sacrament:

We are reminded every Sabbath day about the covenants that we have made at baptism by participating in the ordinance of the sacrament. As you sit in sacrament meeting and listen to the sacramental prayers, do you listen with your ears or with your heart? I appreciate so very much the blessing of reciting the sacrament prayers in my mind as I listen to the appointed priesthood holders bless the bread and the water.

The sacrament reminds me not just of the covenants I made at baptism but also of the Atonement of Jesus Christ. The Atonement of Christ truly qualifies Him to invite you and me to follow Him into the presence of our Heavenly Father. Recall the invitation from Christ to come unto Him that we read in Matthew. We are all heavy laden. We each have cares, concerns, and sins that cause us to be heavy laden. It is through our repentance that we can receive rest. It is through our continued obedience to the commandments that we can receive rest. It is through the atoning sacrifice of the Savior that it is possible for Him to make a promise of rest. . . .

Next Sunday I invite you to listen to the sacramental prayers with new ears and with your heart. By worthily partaking of the sacrament you are responding to the Savior’s invitation to come.

Below are more resources for further study on the Sabbath:

General Conference Leadership Training, October 2015: Sabbath Day Observance

David A. Bednar, “Quick to Observe,” BYU devotional, May 2015

Gordon B. Lindsay, “And Always Remember Him,” BYU devotional, July 2005

Amanda Kae Fronk

Amanda Kae Fronk is the communications manager for BYU Speeches. She is an avid collector of hobbies with book buying, nature watching, and food sampling being among the most enduring. She aspires to one day be called a master wordsmith, a woman of grace, and an owner of a devoted heart.

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