What If Sunday Is for You?
The Question That Can Change the Way You See the Sabbath
When people talk about keeping the Sabbath day holy, what question usually comes to mind?
Maybe:
Can I do this on Sunday?
Can I watch this?
Can I play that?
Can I go there?
Can I work?
Can I do homework?
Where exactly is the line?
Those aren't always bad questions.
But what if they're not the best question?
One day the Savior's disciples were walking through a field on the Sabbath and began picking corn to eat.
The Pharisees immediately criticized them for breaking their Sabbath rules.
Christ responded with a statement that completely changes how we can think about Sunday:
“The sabbath was made for man, and not man for the sabbath.”
—Mark 2:27
Read that again.
The Sabbath was made for you.
God didn't create you because He needed somebody around to keep Sabbath rules.
He created the Sabbath because He knew you would need it.
That's a very different way to think about Sunday.
Instead of asking only:
What am I not allowed to do?
maybe the better question is:
What did God design the Sabbath to do for me?
Doctrine and Covenants 59 gives us one answer:
“That thou mayest more fully keep thyself unspotted from the world…”
—Doctrine and Covenants 59:9
Think about that phrase.
Unspotted from the world.
You spend six days living right in the middle of it.
School.
Work.
Sports.
Phones.
Social media.
Relationships.
Advertising.
Comparison.
Pressure.
Homework.
Entertainment.
Opinions.
Temptation.
None of those things is automatically bad, but the world is constantly trying to tell you who you should be, what you should care about, what you should look like, what you need to own, and what will supposedly make you happy.
And if you're not careful, a little bit of it gets on you.
A little comparison.
A little envy.
A little anger.
A little temptation.
A little more obsession over what people think.
A little less remembering what God thinks.
Then every seven days the Lord gives you a gift.
Sunday.
A day to come back.
A day to take the sacrament.
A day to remember Christ.
A day to repent.
A day to worship.
A day to rest from some of the noise and reconnect with the One whose voice can become harder to hear during the week.
That's why Isaiah uses a word for the Sabbath that might surprise some teenagers.
He says:
“Call the sabbath a delight.”
—Isaiah 58:13
A delight?
Really?
For some people, Sunday can feel like the opposite.
Sometimes Sabbath observance gets reduced almost entirely to a list of things you can't do.
Don't watch this.
Don't go there.
Don't do that.
And if that's your entire understanding of Sunday, it can start feeling like the day God takes away all the fun.
But Christ said the Sabbath was made for man.
It's a gift.
So maybe instead of asking:
“Can I do this on Sunday?”
we could start asking:
“Will this help the Sabbath do what God designed it to do for me?”
That's a much better question.
When I was in college, I had a lot more freedom than I had growing up.
Nobody was making sure I got out of bed and went to church.
I could sleep in.
I could watch football.
I could pretty much decide for myself what Sunday was going to look like.
And there were times I missed church.
Nothing dramatic happened.
I didn't wake up Monday morning and suddenly become a completely different person.
But after a while I noticed something.
The rest of the week felt different.
I felt less patient.
Less spiritually steady.
A little more worldly.
A little less connected to the Spirit.
And eventually I realized something:
Sunday was affecting Monday.
Church and the sacrament were not simply things God wanted from me.
They were things I needed from Him.
Maybe you've noticed that too.
There are Sundays when you leave church and nothing spectacular happened, but somehow you feel more centered.
You remember something you had forgotten.
A sacrament prayer hits differently.
Something somebody says answers a question they didn't even know you had.
You feel more peaceful.
You feel clean again.
You feel a little more ready to face whatever is waiting on Monday morning.
That's what the Sabbath is for.
Maybe Sunday isn't simply the finish line at the end of another exhausting week.
Maybe God designed it to become the starting line for the next six days.
That's why another phrase has become meaningful to me:
Don't just go through the Sabbath. Let the Sabbath go through you.
It's possible to make it through twenty-four hours without technically breaking a Sabbath rule and still miss what the day was designed to accomplish.
You can attend church without really worshipping.
Take the sacrament without really remembering.
Sit through a lesson without really listening.
Stay home from activities without ever creating space for God.
The goal isn't merely to survive Sunday correctly.
The goal is to let Sunday change something inside you.
So maybe Sunday night the best question isn't:
Did I avoid everything I wasn't supposed to do today?
Maybe it's:
Am I more prepared to follow Christ tomorrow because of how I used today?
That changes everything.
Scripture
“The sabbath was made for man, and not man for the sabbath.”
—Mark 2:27
“That thou mayest more fully keep thyself unspotted from the world…”
—Doctrine and Covenants 59:9
“Call the sabbath a delight.”
—Isaiah 58:13
“Then shalt thou delight thyself in the Lord.”
—Isaiah 58:14
Reflection
When you think about Sabbath observance, do you usually think first about rules or purpose?
What do you think the world gets “on you” during an ordinary week?
Why do you think God gave us a Sabbath every seven days?
When have you noticed Sunday affecting the rest of your week?
What makes a Sabbath feel different from an ordinary day for you?
What would help you experience more of what Isaiah called “a delight”?
How would your Sunday change if you started asking, “What did God design this day to do for me?”
Today’s Challenge
Before this Sunday, ask yourself:
What do I need the Sabbath to do for me this week?
Maybe you need peace.
Maybe you need forgiveness.
Maybe you need direction.
Maybe you need rest.
Maybe you need to feel close to God again.
Maybe you need strength against something that has been getting the better of you.
Choose one thing.
Then come to Sunday intentionally.
Bring that need into your prayers.
Bring it to the sacrament.
Create some quiet.
Study something that speaks to it.
Serve somebody.
Give the Savior room to meet you there.
And Sunday night ask:
How could today change tomorrow?
Christ-Centered Thought
The Sabbath itself isn't the source of spiritual power.
Christ is.
We don't worship Sunday.
We use Sunday to worship Him.
The sacrament points us toward His sacrifice. Prayer opens our hearts to Him. Scripture helps us hear His voice. Worship gives us room to remember who He is and who we are because of Him.
The Savior once promised:
“We will come unto him, and make our abode with him.”
—John 14:23
I love that image.
Every week the world has another opportunity to fill your life with noise.
Then Sunday comes, and you get another opportunity to open the door wider to Christ.
More of His peace.
More of His light.
More of His voice.
More room for Him.
And when more of the Savior comes into the house, some of the things the world dragged in don't have as much room to stay.
That's one way He helps keep us “unspotted from the world.”
So don't just ask what you're allowed to do this Sunday.
Ask what God is trying to give you through it.
The Sabbath was made for you.
Let Sunday change more than Sunday.
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