Wish my little boy would do that!!! He grabs a fistful!Read D&C 59: 9–13
What does the Lord require in regards to his day in these verses?
· Go to the house of prayer and offer supplication to him
· Rest from our labors
· Pay devotion to God
· Offer oblations and sacraments
· Confess sins and forsake them
· Fast
· Rejoice in him
Read the following quote by President Hinckley:
“If we are to build that Zion of which the prophets have spoken and of which the Lord has given mighty promise, we must set aside our consuming selfishness. We must rise above our love for comfort and ease, and in the very process of effort and struggle, even in our extremity, we shall become better acquainted with our God.” (Gordon B. Hinckley in Conference Report, Oct. 1991, 78; or Ensign, Nov. 1991, 59)
How would this help you keep more unspotted from the world?
If we set aside our selfishness, we will open ourselves to the world; it allows us to set aside a day just for God. All the other days, we are terribly distracted by every aspect of our worldly existence. Setting aside a day for God allows us to reflect all that we have been given; it allows us to cleanse our hearts.
How would this help you love the Lord and your neighbor more fully?
Well, if we are given a time to reflect—a time to spend growing closer to our Maker—we can develop a greater relationship with Him. When selfishness leaves our bodies and our minds, we will have much greater room for love. This love of God and our families will emanate to our friends and ‘neighbors’. Ideally, we will increase charity in our lives and love will perpetuate in everything that we do.
How would this help you thank the Lord in all things?
Love spans an expanse of gratitude. When we love someone, it is natural to feel gratitude for all the things that we have been given. I think that gratitude is an automatic response of love.
How would this help you offer the righteous sacrifice of a broken heart and contrite spirit?
When we forsake selfishness and open our hearts to God, we are blessed to begin to feel the emotion of humility. Our meager insignificance becomes more apparent. We are forced to rely on God for everything and thus turning too him with all the fullness of a broken heart.
How would this help you “set aside [your] consuming selfishness?”
Setting aside selfishness is a hard thing to do; selfishness is what consumes the natural man. But having a day to dedicate to someone other than ourselves—especially in honor of our Creator—allows our minds and hearts to prepare for a release of that selfishness.
Read D&C 59: 15–21
Why link Sabbath observance to the greater enjoyment of physical blessings?
Because when our spirits our whole, our bodies is whole. When we have given everything to our maker, then He will bless us with temporal blessings beyond measure.
What else is God trying to tell us about earth and our bodies and spirits?
That they our connected. The Earth is as spiritual as it is physical; we need to reconcile within ourselves and take it upon us to treat them both with the love and respect that they deserve. There cannot be one without the other. If we lose our Spirits, then our bodies die (physically and/or spiritually). If we lose our bodies—or if we had never had them—we would have never been able to have eternal life.
If we only had these verses, and no Section 89, what principles could we apply to what we take into our bodies and minds?
Essentially what section 89 says. We are to not take into our bodies anything harmful; we are to fill it with grains, herbs, ripe vegetation, and everything good that the Earth as to give. The same goes for our bodies. We are to ingest only good things.
Write down one thing you can do on Sunday to more fully claim those blessings and become more of a Zion person.
I should dedicate more time to the Lord. I need to stop using Sunday as my catchup day. I need to save housework and other physical demands for the week. The Sabbath has been consecrated and I need to respect that.
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