16 Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy.
17 Six days shalt thou labor, and do all thy work;
18 But the seventh day, the sabbath of the Lord thy God, thou shalt not do any work, thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, thy man-servant, nor thy maid-servant, nor thy cattle, nor thy stranger that is within thy gates;
19 For in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, and the sea, and all that in them is; wherefore the Lord blessed the sabbath day, and hallowed it.
This week, I’m studying what the Book of Mormon teaches about the Sabbath Day.
The passage quoted above comes from the Ten Commandments, which God gave to Moses on Mount Sinai. Abinadi quoted these commandments to the priests of King Noah, who insisted that “salvation did come by the law of Moses,” yet who failed to keep it! Abinadi quoted the commandments verbatim, hoping to prompt some self-reflection, which might lead to repentance.
Today, I’m focused on a phrase from the first verse of this passage: “Six days shalt thou labor, and do all thy work.” This requires time management and self discipline. Just as tithing requires us to know how much money we have earned and to avoid wasting our money, the Sabbath Day requires us to know what we need to accomplish each week (“all thy work”) and avoid wasting our time. Part of keeping this commandment may be tidying the house on Saturday night, even if I’m tired. It may include limiting my commitments so that “all my work” doesn’t take more than 6 days to complete. Above all, it means actually completing my work in 6 days so that I can focus on the Lord’s work on the Lord’s day.
I’m grateful for the self-discipline taught by the commandment to keep the Sabbath Day holy. This week, I will manage my time to complete my work between Monday and Saturday, so that I can keep the Sabbath Day holy.
?? The Sabbath is Saturday, the seventh day,not the first.Make sure you have your cleaning and things cooked before Friday night (the evening and the morning were the first day) The Lords Day? The seventh day Sabbath! It’s his (ex 20:10) and He calls it His holy day (Isaiah 58:13)
Thank you for your comment. You and I both agree that the Lord wants us to dedicate one day out of each week to Him. I’m glad you agree with the fundamental premise of this post: that we should complete our work before the Sabbath Day, so that we can focus on worshipping Him during that sacred time.
Yup and that day is called the Sabbath ; commonly the seventh day . As evidenced in Mosiah 13:16-19; ex 20:8-11