Right Vs. Holy: What Shabbat Reveals About the Heart of Obedience
According to Revelation, Scripture presents the character of a person as moving within four spiritual directions of life:
1) wrong, also translated as unjust, unrighteous, impure, or evildoer
2) vile, also known as filthy
3) right
4) holy
By faith, I would say that every decision carries four possible directions: wrong, vile, right, or holy. Of these four, God calls us to live holy lives and to make choices that are whole and set apart.
1 Peter 1:15–16 (ESV)
“But as he who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct, since it is written, ‘You shall be holy, for I am holy.’”
Wrong vs. Vile
The difference between wrong and vile is often clear. Examples of wrong actions might include making a rolling stop at a stop sign, choosing not to work when it is clear you need to earn income, or neglecting a responsibility you have already committed to fulfill. Clear examples of vile behavior include sexual immorality, murder, and lying under oath.
If the difference between wrong and vile is often visible on the surface of our actions, the difference between what is right and what is holy is revealed only in the posture of the heart.
However, discerning the difference between what is right and what is truly holy requires a much deeper level of spiritual discernment.
A righteous person makes good decisions with limited sight. A holy person makes decisions by the discernment of the Holy Spirit, who alone sees the whole.A life focused solely on being “right” — or making the “right” decision — often leads to fatigue, because it roots us in a relationship with rules and facts rather than in communion with the Holy Spirit.
But a holy life, and decisions shaped by the pursuit of a holy outcome, invite divine alignment and optimization. Holiness opens the door to the presence of God. And in His presence, our lives and our choices are no longer carried by our own strength, but upheld by the Almighty.
There, we find rest. And more than rest, we discover an intimate friendship with God.
Nowhere is this tension between being right and being holy more clearly lived out than in how we approach the gift and command of Shabbat.
Righteous Decisions vs. Holy Decisions: A Shabbat Example
Let’s take Shabbat as a living example of the difference between righteousness and holiness.
The Lord commands us to rest from all our labor:
Exodus 20:8–11 (ESV)
“Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy.
Six days you shall labor, and do all your work,
but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the LORD your God. On it you shall not do any work, you, or your son, or your daughter, your male servant, or your female servant, or your livestock, or the sojourner who is within your gates.
For in six days the LORD made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested on the seventh day. Therefore the LORD blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy.”
A righteous person seeks to honor this command by striving to apply it as fully and consistently as possible. In principle, this means ensuring that their household, their employees, and all those under their authority cease from labor. Yet when this command is carried into today’s 24/7 economy, its full weight becomes clear.
To follow the letter of this law in absolute terms would require more than personal rest. It would mean withdrawing from financial systems that continue to operate through the Sabbath, halting investment activity, and even discontinuing essential utilities and services that continue to function regardless of personal obedience. In this sense, complete compliance becomes a burden that few, if any, can fully carry.
A holy person, however, recognizes something deeper embedded within the design of God’s law.
Holiness begins with the understanding that we are not capable of fulfilling the law in its full measure by our own strength (Romans 3:20; Romans 8:3; Galatians 2:16; John 15:5). The law does more than instruct—it reveals our dependence. This limitation is not a flaw in God’s design, but part of it. It brings us to the recognition that we are finite, fragile, and in constant need of God to sustain what we cannot.
In the case of Shabbat, a holy person chooses to rest, to set the day apart, and to honor God in spirit and in truth—while acknowledging that certain necessary systems and services may continue beyond their control. Rather than claiming perfect obedience, they come before the Lord with reverence and dependence, trusting Him to cover what they cannot.
This is where the law does its deepest work. It places us in a posture not of self-sufficiency, but of childlike reliance.
No matter how much we mature in faith, we never outgrow our need for God. Before His fullness, we remain like infants—dependent on His mercy, His provision, and His protection. Holiness is not found in proving our strength, but in confessing our weakness and resting in His.
Shabbat, then, becomes more than a day we observe—it becomes a mirror that reveals whether we are striving for obedience alone, or resting in dependence on God Himself.
Conclusion: The Path of Holiness
In conclusion, we have seen that both people and their decisions ultimately fall into four spiritual directions: vile, wrong, right, or holy. While the world often measures life by what is merely right or wrong, Scripture calls the children of God to something higher — a holy life.
Paradoxically, a holy life is not a life that claims wholeness in itself. It is a life that has been broken open before God and found wanting by the law. The holy person stands not on self-righteousness, but on dependence. Before the Lord, they recognize themselves as infants — in constant need of mercy, guidance, and saving power.
This is why God moved to redeem Israel, and why the name Yeshua itself means “The Lord saves.” Salvation is not given to the self-sufficient, but to those who know they cannot save themselves.
Holiness, then, is not the achievement of perfection, but the confession of need. It is the daily choice to trust the One who sees the whole when we only see in part. And in that trust, our lives are no longer carried by our own strength, but upheld by the grace and faithfulness of God.
Scripture closes this tension with a sobering mirror for every self-sufficient heart:
Revelation 3:17 (ESV)
“For you say, I am rich, I have prospered, and I need nothing, not realizing that you are wretched, pitiable, poor, blind, and naked.”
This was not written for a distant audience, but for every one of us. No matter how well we believe we keep the law, we all stand before this same mirror—exposed, dependent, and in need of the saving grace of God.
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