Family Home Evening: Faith and Sabbath Day Observance

This Family Home Evening lesson came from the Personal Progress book, the 3rd Value Experience of Faith.  I love this quote about faith from "True to the Faith", "Faith is a principle of action and power.  Whenever you work toward a worthy goal, you exercise faith."  We talked about how every time we practice those "Sunday School answers", we are building faith.  

We specifically focused on Sabbath day observance. Sabbath day observance was to help Adam's posterity remember the Lord’s power in creating the world.  That Sabbath remembrance was combined with the Lord’s power of delivering Israel out of Egypt.  It was also the looking forward to the coming of the Savior and the atonement.  This remembrance was so important in Moses’ time that people were stoned for breaking the Sabbath. 

Today the world tries to turn Sunday from a Holy Day to another holiday.  Even people’s attitudes in the church make less of the Sabbath than it could be.  The Sabbath is an excellent opportunity to strengthen faith.  The basic, minimum requirements of the Sabbath are going to Sacrament meeting and abstaining from work and shopping.  Whenever we make it more than a day of lounging, we are building a stronger faith.  

Making the most of the Sabbath day requires looking at the thoughts that accompany our actions.  As we ask ourselves if our activities are focusing our hearts and minds on the Savior, we will adjust our actions to maximize the spiritual strength training we receive on Sundays.  If we choose to read on Sunday, does our reading material bring the Spirit?  Can we shift from good books to spiritual books on the Sabbath?  TV viewing on the Sabbath has caused many debates and must be decided in each home.  Is there an appropriate use for the TV on the Sabbath?  If yes, could we shift what we view to something more uplifting that helps us to ponder the blessings the Lord gives us?  For each question, we can try to live a higher law and see if it bears good fruit.

What have been your most spiritual Sabbath days?  What is a way you believe would increase your Sabbath day observance?