A weekly date with God

Even though “I’m too busy!” has become the catch phrase of the twenty-first century, which is often “a boast disguised as a complaint”, scientists are discovering that we perform better and achieve more if we take a break.

Seventh-day Adventists believe God gave us the secret to performing our best when He asked us to, “Remember the Sabbath day . . . on [the seventh day] you shall not do any work” (Exodus 20:8-10).

The Sabbath encompasses our entire relationship with God. It is an indication of God's action on our behalf in the past, present, and future. The Sabbath protects man's friendship with God and provides the time essential for the development of that relationship. The Sabbath clarifies the relationship between God and the human family, for it points to God as Creator at a time when human beings would like to usurp God's position in the universe.

In this age of materialism, the Sabbath points men and women to the spiritual and to the personal. The consequences for forgetting the Sabbath day to keep it holy are serious. It will lead to the distortion and eventual destruction of a person's relationship with God.

When the Sabbath is kept, it is a witness to the rest that comes from trusting God alone as our sustainer, as the basis of our salvation, and as the ground of our hope in the future. As such, the Sabbath is a delight because we have entered God's rest and have accepted the invitation to fellowship with Him.

When God asks us to remember the Sabbath day He does so because He wants us to remember Him.