Remember the Sabbath Day

When the Lord God gave the Ten Commandments to Moses, “Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy” was considered of sufficient importance to be numbered as one among the ten. And surely whatever is included among the commandments should not be looked upon lightly: “Thou shalt have no other gods before me…Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image…Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain…Honour thy father and thy mother…Thou shalt not kill…Thou shalt not commit adultery…Thou shalt not covet…” These are basic principles of inestimable importance. And numbered among them is the one concerning the Sabbath. But why be concerned about the Sabbath? To some it is enough that the Lord God has so said. However, for those who want them, there are other reasons. There is a well-known law called the law of diminishing returns, which, for our present purpose, means simply that the expenditure of effort or energy beyond a certain point does not continue to yield increasing or even equal results. Continued fatigue is the forerunner of decreasing effectiveness, of failure, and often of ill health. And from a purely physical point of view a man who relentlessly drives himself all around the week will fail to find the physical refreshment that belongs to those who “remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy.” But man is not of the flesh only, but also of the mind and of the spirit, both of which must be fed and refreshed. Men must have time for their own inner thoughts, time for communing with their Maker, time for contemplation of the meaning of life and all that makes up the universe. And he who fails to take time for rest and refreshment and contemplation is inviting physical and mental and spiritual stagnation. Surely these things belong to the Sabbath day: the spirit of worship, the spirit of rest, the spirit of quiet refreshment. And even if a commandment had never been given, it would still be apparent from all the other facts that the Sabbath is essential to the greatest good of man. The Lord God “blessed it and hallowed it,” and set the Sabbath aside, and the fourth commandment is still before us: “Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy.”