I know it is hard to be a Christian in the world today, striving to live by the awesome standards and instructions God has given us. I also know how hard it is to live in the world, especially in college, and follow God with my whole heart. It is a constant struggle to be true to God's ways and not consumed by the world. I find it especially challenging when it comes to explaining why I keep the Holy Days or the Sabbath to my friends and professors.

In thinking about this, I came up with an analogy that I think most students, as well as other people, would relate to. As a student, I have to follow the rules of my professors in my classes because they are authority figures (they give me my grades!). So when teachers or professors give instructions for an assignment, they don't allow their students to complete different assignments or change the due date. 

Don't try to change God's plan

In the same way, when God presented His Holy Days (Leviticus 23) outlining His miraculous plan for all of us to understand and follow throughout our generations (Leviticus 23:14, 21, 31, 43), He did not want us to add to or take away from His wonderful instructions (Revelation 22:18-19).

We aren't to change the days He gave. God didn't intend for the weekly Sabbath to be changed from its original observance on Saturday to Sunday or for humans to adopt or add pagan elements to our worship. But just look at how the world uses pagan customs to celebrate Christmas as Jesus' birth or Easter as His resurrection, instead of celebrating Passover to symbolize His death and sacrifice as the Bible instructs.

If God wanted us to keep these worldly holidays and worship Him in this way, He would have told us to do that from the beginning when He commanded the Holy Days in the Bible. But He didn't! In fact, the law God presented (including His Ten Commandments in Exodus 20:1-17, Holy Days in Leviticus 23:1-44 and other laws and doctrines) is so important and means so much to Him, as it should to all of us, that God sacrificed His own Son, Jesus Christ, to pay for our sins—for breaking those laws.

If God's law and His Holy Days could be altered, changed or even deleted from our religious practices, why would Jesus have had to die for humans who transgressed an imperfect or changeable law? The main point is that He wouldn't and didn't. Christ came to earth as a human to fulfill the law (Matthew 5:17 ), not to change or do away with it like much of the world has done today.

So as we observe the annual Holy Days and the weekly Sabbaths that God has created as gifts for us and as constant reminders of His gracious and loving plan for all mankind, we should always think about our attitude in worshipping Him. We should examine whether or not our actions reflect the plan and promise God has set up for us—to receive eternal life in His everlasting Kingdom at the return of His Son Jesus Christ to this earth (Matthew 3:2; 6:33; Galatians 5:16-23; Hebrews 12:28).

Avoid frustration

So don't become frustrated with the ways of this world when everyone and everything seems to be against you. God knew it would be this way and told us that the world would hate us and be against us because we are different (John 15:18 ). Think of how the world hated Jesus when He was on earth, yet Jesus told us that He had "overcome the world" (John 16:33 ).

We should follow His example and not love the ways of the world (1 John 2:15 -17) or try to become part of it. Instead, we allow our minds to be "transformed" (Romans 12:2) as we follow God and Jesus. Remember that we are not alone in our trials because we always have God and each other to lean on for strength and encouragement. With this help, we can rise above the wrong ways we see in the world and persevere (Matthew 19:26; Philippians 4:13 ).

Remember that God will not give us something He knows we cannot handle (1 Corinthians 10:13 ), and we always have the wonderful opportunity to learn from the trials we are handed. When we persevere, we become stronger lights to the world as Christians (Matthew 5:14 ). At the return of Jesus Christ, we can be rewarded for following God's ways and laws (Matthew 16:27 ).

This is the hope that I hold as I live my daily life striving with God's help to become a better person and Christian.  I also hope my classroom analogy helps you strengthen your own bond to God's ways and His wonderful plan that He has symbolically revealed to us through His Holy Days.

For additional information on the Sabbath and Holy Days, read or request your free copies of the Sunset to Sunset—God's Sabbath Rest, God's Holy Day Plan and Holidays or Holy Days at www.ucg.org/booklets. VT