EDITOR’S CORNER

"I don't have time."

We've all felt that way. So many things we want to do, and we never get to them all. There aren't enough hours in the day or in the week. Something always has to "give."

Yet, in fact, no one has more time than you or I do. We all have twenty-four hours every day, 168 hours each week. No more, no less. The question is, how shall we use them?

For work, and sleep, and eating, to be sure. But we are more than machines, valued for our output, needing fuel and occasional "down time" in order to keep running. God made us for fellowship with Himself. Because this fellowship is the highest joy to us both, He has made time for it, and he asks us to do so, too.

This is what the Sabbath is all about. God asks us to stop doing the ordinary good things that fill our days, and set aside a day for fellowship with Him, a fellowship which is to extend to others around us.

God Himself did so when He inaugurated the Sabbath. What better work could God have done than His six-day work of creation? At its close, God surveyed it and pronounced it "very good." But then God performed a different work of creation, not in material things, but in time. He "rested on the seventh day And God blessed the seventh day, and sanctified it: because that in it he had rested from all his work which God created and made" (Gen 2:2-3).

The Hebrew word translated "rest" actually means "to stop, to cease"; this verb is the root of the word translated "sabbath." God stopped His creative work in material things, good as it was, and turned His creativity to time. He blessed this day, filling it with His goodness, and He sanctified it, filling it with His holiness. Then He offered it to the human pair, whom He had just created the day before.

On this day they were not to focus their attention on the responsibilities God had given them in "the garden of Eden to dress it and to keep it" (Gen 2:15). As God had ceased from His work, they were to cease from theirs to fellowship with Him and with each other.

God's blessing remains on the Sabbath. We lose that blessing if we fail to "stop" the activities of the week, good as they may be. This time is different from the other days, and we need to treat it so.

We cannot claim, "I don't have time," because God has made the Sabbath time for us and given it to us, to be used in His way.

The Sabbath is, in fact, holy time. When we let common, unsanctified things intrude on that day-whether television, radio, newspapers, secular magazines, sports, restaurants or other commerce----we lose the blessing that God wants us to have. He told us through Isaiah (58:13-14) that only when we "turn away [our] foot from the Sabbath," when we stop trampling on it, doing our own "pleasure" on His "holy day," will we be able to "call the sabbath a delight, the holy of the Lord, honorable." We will "honor him" by not doing our own "ways," or finding our own "pleasure," or speaking our own "words," but in choosing His ways, His will (KJV "pleasure"), His words.

The result? "Then shalt thou delight thyself in the Lord." We'll enjoy Him! And God has great plans for us: "I will cause thee to ride upon the high places of the earth, and feed thee with the heritage of Jacob thy father: for the mouth of the Lord hath spoken it." What could be better?

In This Issue. Samuel Koranteng-Pipim, an outstanding doctoral candidate at Andrews University, challenges us with a fresh look at the Sabbath commandment from an African perspective, in ""Remember' the Sabbath Day."

Samuele Bacchiocchi has written extensively about the Sabbath. His article, "The Sabbath as Service," highlights the significance of the Sabbath for practical living.

"The Natural Rhythm of the Sabbath" is by James Tucker, noted educator and nature writer. Dr. Tucker directs our attention to the link between God's creation and the Sabbath which marked its completion.

The Bible speaks of God's people being sealed with His seal. What is the seal of God? The Sabbath's relationship to this seal is the focus of P. Gerard Damsteegt's article, "The Seal of God."

Laurel Damsteegt, Gerard's wife, has given us a provocative look at the practical aspects of Sabbath keeping in "Getting Ready for Sabbath."

A thought-provoking article by Mrs. White, “Daniel's Friends and the Coming Sabbath Test," challenges us to prepare for a repetition of the ancient event on the plain of Dura. Responding to our invitation, readers sent us accounts of experiences they have had keeping the Sabbath under stress. You will find six examples under the heading, "Sabbath Faithfulness Honored."

It is our prayer that these articles will help our fellow ADVENTISTS re-AFFIRM their commitment to the Sabbath and to the Lord of the Sabbath.