Honoring the Lord on His Day

“If you turn back your foot from the Sabbath, from doing your pleasure on My holy day, and call the Sabbath a delight and the holy day of the Lord, honorable, if you honor it, not going your own ways, or seeking your own pleasure, or talking idly, then you shall take delight in the Lord, and I will make you ride on the heights of the earth; I will feed you with the heritage of Jacob your father, for the mouth of the Lord has spoken.” (Isaiah 58:13-14, ESV). “This is the day which the Lord hath made; we will rejoice and be glad in it.” (Psalm 118;24, KJV). “I was glad when they said unto me, ‘Let us go into the house of the Lord.’ " (Psalm 122:1, KJV).

Today is Sunday, a day set aside for worship, for gathering in Christian fellowship, prayer, Bible study and exhortation of the Word, a day in seven to especially seek God. How holy and sacred do we count our privilege of free worship? Do we honor God by honoring his day? Or is it just another day of work, pleasure and selfish pursuits? Every day is the Lord’s day; Sunday is the day we deliberately seek Him.

Compare any church congregation’s attendance on the Lord’s Day with the number on the church roll and we see an immediate condemnation of our actions. Too often we disregard the assembling of ourselves together for worship. This is an indictment of our modern age when we give God token allegiance and go our ways with seeming disregard of what His Word teaches about remembering the Sabbath Day (or holy day—a day set aside in seven). We say we believe in and practice the Ten Commandments. Yet this one commandment—“Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy” (Exodus 20:8, KJV)--is broken week after week by so many Christians. Read again Isaiah 58:13-14. We need to turn back from pursing our own pleasure and again call the Lord’s Day a delight! To honor the Lord’s Day is to delight Him. Note how exuberantly Isaiah expresses personal rewards for those who honor the Lord’s Day: “Take delight in the Lord…ride on the heights of the earth…I will feed you with the heritage of Jacob, your father!” And why do these promises come true about our observance of the Lord’s Day? “The mouth of the Lord has spoken!”

I awoke early this morning with much anticipation of the Lord’s day. I will enjoy studying the Bible with Christian friends. Today at my particular church we will have the observance of the Lord’s Supper—one of our two ordinances. The Lord commanded that we observe communion “in remembrance of Him.” It is a time of solemn soul-examination, asking forgiveness, coming before the Lord with humility and deep gratitude. We gather to worship; we depart to serve. Help us Lord, so to live!

c Ethelene Dyer Jones; Sunday, October 31, 2010