HEALTHY FAMILIES FOR ETERNITY

HEALTHY FAMILIES FOR ETERNITY REACH THE WORLD
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Q - When our children were little it was quite
easy to navigate Sabbath observance. Now
that our children are early-teens and filled with
energy, it is difficult to keep them indoors,
especially during the summer months. Do
you have any ideas to share with us?
A - The Sabbath is a wonderful day for
slowing down from the daily routine of the
week, making more time for communing with
God, and connecting with one’s family and loved
ones. While many Christians believe the Sabbath
came from the Jews, this special day was actually
instituted by God during creation week, long
before the first Jew appeared in history.
When God ended His work of creation in six
days, at the end of the first chapter of Genesis,
He then rested. Genesis 2:2,3 states: “And on the
seventh day God ended His work which He had
done, and He rested on the seventh day from all
His work which He had done. Then God blessed
the seventh day and sanctified it, because in it He
rested from all His work which God had created
and made.”
It is important to note that God did not rest
on the seventh day because He was tired (Isaiah
40:28). Rather, God simply stopped being
Willie Oliver, PhD, CFLE and Elaine Oliver, MA, CFLE are
Directors of the Department of Family Ministries at the General
Conference of Seventh-day Adventists World Headquarters in
Silver Spring, Maryland, USA.
Long Summer Days
And Sabbath-Keeping
WILLIE AND ELAINE OLIVER
engaged in the work He was doing of creating the
world because He was finished. As you already
know. God did more than rest (from the Hebrew
word shabath which literally means to cease one’s
work or activity, and is the word for Sabbath in
the English language) on the seventh day. As
we read above in Genesis 2:3, God blessed and
sanctified the seventh day. To be sure, to sanctify
a day means to declare it holy and to set it apart
for sacred use.
The fact that you have concerns about
Sabbath observance with your emerging earlyteens
is because you are obviously convicted that
the seventh-day Sabbath is the day on which God
says he rested and the one He sanctified or set
aside for holy use.
What is most important for you as a parent
who wants to pass on her values to her children
is to simply do so by modeling the behavior, and
talking about what is critical to your family at
regular intervals. If obeying God is important to
you as a Christian, you would want to pass that
on to your children by: 1. Being obedient to God
yourself, and 2. Talking about the importance of
being obedient to God.
As you probably already know families keep
the Sabbath based on their understanding of
what Sabbath-keeping means. Be sure to develop
a clear understanding of what Sabbath observance
means in your family and pass that on to your
children. You may want to review what the New