“‘Thus says Yahweh, “Take care of yourselves, and do not carry any load on the sabbath day or bring anything in through the gates of Jerusalem. “You shall not bring a load out of your houses on the sabbath day nor do any work, but keep the sabbath day holy, as I commanded your fathers. “Yet they did not listen or incline their ears, but stiffened their necks in order not to listen or receive discipline.” Jeremiah 17:21-23 LSB https://bible.com/bible/3345/jer.17.21-23.LSB

Israel had a problem with idolatry, the worship of false gods. We too have such a problem, we worship ourselves, our wants, our pleasures, more than we worship the One True God. The Lord Almighty commands all people everywhere to love Him with all of our heart, soul, mind, and strength. The Lord God is to be loved first and most by us. His prescription for our pride, our wandering idolatrous hearts, is the Sabbath, a day when we refocus upon Him, His word, His ways, with His people, so that we can live obedient lives before Him. At least one day of the week we are to stop what we normally do and listen to God, praise God, serve God, with the people of God for encouraging each other to live lives pleasing to God. Still, many of us ignore God on Sunday choosing instead our idols of work, pleasure, sports for our children, or rest for ourselves. We say we love God but we ignore God and are not actively working at building the kingdom of God upon earth as it is in heaven. We can easily determine our true love by our expenditure of effort, time, service, and finances. That which we love will receive the greatest portion of these things from us, how much is God receiving from us?