Sunday Sabbath: What am I the better...

    "And he said to them, 'The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath. So the Son of Man is lord even of the Sabbath.' "  Mark 2:27-28

Commentary by Matthew Henry: (bold-facing and underlining mine)

The sabbath is a sacred and divine institution; but we must receive and embrace it as a privilege and a benefit, not as a task and a drudgery.

First, God never designed it to be an imposition upon us, and therefore we must not make it so to ourselves. Man was not made for the sabbath, for he was made a day before the sabbath was instituted. Man was made for God, and for his honour and service, and he just rather die than deny him; but he was not made for the sabbath, so as to be tied up by the law of it, from that which is necessary to the support of his life.

Secondly, God did design it to be an advantage to us, and so we must make it, and improve it. He made it for man.

1. He had some regard to our bodies in the institution, that they might rest, and not be tired out with the constant business of this world;

2. He had much more regard to our souls. The sabbath was made a day of rest, only in order to its being a day of holy work, a day of communion with God, a day of praise and thanksgiving; and the rest from worldly business is therefore necessary, that we may closely apply ourselves to this work, and spend the whole time in it, in public and in private; but then time is allowed us for that which is necessary to the fitting of our bodies for the service of our souls in God’s service, and the enabling of them to keep pace with them in that work.

See here,
(1.) What a good Master we serve, all whose institutions are for our own benefit, and if we be so wise as to observe them, we are wise for ourselves; it is not he, but we, that are gainers by our service.

(2.) What we should aim at in our sabbath work, even the good of our own souls. If the sabbath was made for man, we should then ask ourselves at night, "What am I the better for this sabbath day?’’

(3.) What care we ought to take not to make those exercises of religion burthens to ourselves or others, which God ordained to be blessings; neither adding to the command by unreasonable strictness, nor indulging those corruptions which are adverse to the command, for thereby we make those devout exercises a penance to ourselves, which otherwise would be a pleasure.

The sabbath days are days of the Son of man; he is the Lord of the day, and to his honour it must be observed; by him God made the worlds, and so it was by him that the sabbath was first instituted;

My prayer:

 

Father, you truly are a good Master. 

You have uniquely designed a gift of rest for our bodies, minds, and hearts.  A day to set aside to "rest from worldly business" and replace it with a day of "holy work, a day of communion with God, a day of praise and thanksgiving". 

You have commanded this as a gift and benefit to me, as all your commands are in my life. 

This rest is "necessary, that we may closely apply ourselves to this (holy) work". 

Necessary.  Necessary. 

As air, water, food, sleep are all necessary in my life, so is this rest unto you.  May I attend to it as such.

Forgive me for how I have neglected to do so, thereby missing not only that closeness with you but also that nourishment to my body and soul that would sustain me in my worldly business on every other day.

 

Lord, this is Your day. 

It is a "privilege and benefit" to "receive and embrace it".

 

Guard my heart from allowing another precious gift of Sabbath rest to go by without asking this crucial question, "What am I the better for this Sabbath day?".  Work in me that my answer will always be that which is "to your honor".