In six days the God created the world. On the seventh he rested, not for His sake, but for man’s. The seventh day was to be holy. The Sabbath was meant to be a day of rest and refocus; a reminder of our purpose in life. Yet, in the last hundred years, Christians seem to have forgotten the importance of the Sabbath.
Because our society is in the process of turning its back on God, keeping the sabbath is not easy. To the rest of America, the Lord’s Day is just another day. If you want to raise your children in the Lord, the Sabbath is a must; it is God’s weekly devotion. Don’t try to replace it with your own version. God’s knows your family’s needs better than you do.
So, what is the Sabbath and how can we keep it in today’s secular world? The Sabbath is one day in seven to rest and worship God. It is a whole day, not a Church service.
Keeping the whole Sabbath used to be a big struggle for me. I’d wake early and work, go to Church (where I often daydreamed about work) and then returned home and continued my work. I wasn’t keeping the Sabbath; I wasn’t giving that day over to the Lord. I was checking a spiritual block and then returning to my ‘pressing’ work.
If you want to keep the Sabbath I’d recommend sundown Saturday night to sundown Sunday night. That is a full day and I promise, God is worth it.
If we want our children to respect the Sabbath, then we have to set the example. I recommend that parents try not to work on Sunday, unless your work is in emergency care. Jesus says that, “It is lawful to do good on the Sabbath.” So, when we talk about work, we are talking about working for our own benefit.
When I first attempted to take the Sabbath more seriously, I resolved NOT to work on my business on Sunday. Then I did something worse. I worked hard all week, sometimes 16 hour days, only on my business. So when Sunday came around all the house and yard work had piled up and I used “my day of rest and worship” to catch up on it.
Instead of doing petty chores during the workweek, I was saving them for the Sabbath, again putting my work ahead of God.
It is funny how hard we try to find a way around honoring the Sabbath when the Sabbath was created for our own benefit; honoring God is what we were made for and when we do it our lives work better.
There is no job, no soccer game, no football game that can fill that void. The minute you start compromising, cutting the day short, substituting days, claiming work is rest for you, redefining work, you begin to destroy the Sabbath for yourself; and you and your family suffer.
Activities to Do with Your Children on the Sabbath
1. Pray – Make 3 prayer lists. One of things to pray for yourself, one of things to pray for others, and one of people you want to give their lives to Jesus.
2. Fast – Choose 1 meal to skip and give the money to those who are in need. This is one of the hardest things for children to do, but the impact is greater.
3. Sing – It keeps the house joyful and pleases the Lord. Psalm 9:2, “I will be glad and rejoice in you; I will sing the praises of your name, O Most High.” Some of my favorite songs are here and we also LOVE Songs for Saplings.
4. Read – Of course your Bible would be a good pick, but also anything that glorifies Him.
5. Watch – A Bible Movie after reading are great to help kids remember the lesson and we highly recommend watching a movie about Eric Liddle (aff. link), who wouldn’t run in the Olympics on the Sabbath.
More Ideas for Day 7 of the Creation Story for Kids
Creation: Rest – No Sew Quiet Book for Toddlers
The 7 Days of Creation in Legos {Day 7 – Rest}
The Creation Story for Kids Series
Thanks so much for doing the Creation series! Your posts were had a lot of fun projects and experiments! Thanks for sharing them!
Debbie @ Bible Fun For Kids recently posted…The Creation For Kids: Day 7
Hi,
I enjoyed the ideas posted here and will definitely use them with my kids. It’s nice to see a more accurate activity that fits with what the Bible teaches on the Sabbath.
The only thing is… there is no where in the Bible that says the day of worship was changed from the
seventh day to the first day of the week. In fact, God knew this would happen and the fourth commandment in Genesis 20 states “Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days you shall labor and do all thy work…”
I love your blog. Thank you for sharing your ideas.
Sincerely
Tammie Zuker
Great that you are reminding folks of the Sabbath created by God for our good! I can vouch for how good it is to have that day to stop regular work and chores… (instead) to worship, spend more time in the Word, and fellowship with family and other believers. You gave good suggestions for ideas on keeping the Sabbath as a special day. We also like to get out in nature on pretty Sabbath days.
I did notice that you mentioned we should not substitute the day, but that’s exactly what people do when they keep the 1st instead of the 7th day, as if we can improve on what God instituted at Creation and later inscribed in stone. (That change was admittedly made by the Roman Catholic church centuries ago). Folks who study through the Bible can see that God did not ever change it nor did He intend to change the 7th-day Sabbath in the future.
Keep up your good work for the family and for God!
I love your enthusiasm regarding keeping the entire Sabbath holy.
I am sure the Sabbath is the seventh day and not the firs like you are proposing. Check the scripture carefully. Luke 23:51-56 and Luke 24:1-2.
Nothing regarding the observance of the weekly Sabbath was changed by Jesus or His disciples.
The switch from the seventh day to the first was done by men with an unholy agenda hundreds of years after Jesus returned to heaven.
The weekly cycle was made by God and the Sabbath is a memorial of Creation. Sabbath keeping is a rebuke against atheism, evolution and everything else in between. However substituting Sunday for saturday is disobedience and dishonors God.
Much love to you and yours
I was quite delighted to find your website on the very topic I am having to share in my child’s class at church next week. But then I was equally disappointed. For you see our kids are learning about creation and next week I will be presenting about the creation of the “Sabbath”, the seventh day Sabbath. Although I agree with your points on how to truly “keep the Sabbath” and your suggestions for things to do with kids are great, I’m saddened that the whole truth of the Sabbath does not appear here. God created the world in 6 literal days and then He created the “Sabbath” on the 7th day, not the 1st day of the week. Why is this so hard to clearly see? Exodus 20:11 For in six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth, the sea and all that is in them, and rested the seventh day. Therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and hallowed it.” God is unchanging as is the day He established as the Sabbath. His resurrection does not change this one bit. His resurrection just makes it possible for us to look forward to eternal life, because he conquered death and the tomb for us! I will keep praying all God’s people who are deceived will clearly see the truth of the Sabbath before He comes again.
Hi thank you for your attempt to do the right ting. Just for clarity the sabbath starts, sundown on Friday and ends sundown on Saturday
Everything needs to be prepared before sun set on Friday to be on time for the sabbath. The evening and the morning is a day. When we purpose in our hart to be obedient to God that sabbath blessing that God has prepared for us will benefit our entire family. Our home/ children will be a happy place. Its not about who is right and who is wrong its about serving God wholeheartedly in spirit and in truth. What you don’t know you are not responsible for but you will beheld accountable for what you Do know and what you could of known. By not studying Gods plane truths in his word and refusing to put in to practice all what you have come to know through his word. And worshiping God on the true sabbath day is important and it does matter. God has set His holy day aside from all other days. It has been set aside for Holy purpose. Please don’t be deceived the day does matter.