At one point in my career, I worked for an executive who was smart, driven, and very competitive. This executive was continually checking the side mirrors of the corporate vehicle to monitor the proximity of other executives. I quickly realized that rewards came when my work made this executive look good.
It was highly unsavory and off-putting.
And it reinforced the value of impressing other people at work.
I mean, I’d like to think that I was above all that. I wanted to believe my Christian foundation insulated me from caring about what other people thought. I told myself I was focused on serving God and couldn’t possibly care what my peers were doing; who was rising in the company, who was struggling, and who was doing a corporate face-plant.
But I was. (I mean, I was considering what my peers were doing. Although there were also plenty of corporate face-plants.)
I strove for visibility and responsibility by making sure to toot my own horn. I promoted myself as someone who could get things done. And if I just happened to look better than others, and make my bosses look good in the process, well, all the better.
Incentivized to Do That
There’s a lot of incentive in the world of work to make a name for yourself. Being known for being smart, effective, or even just easy to work with fosters promotions and the financial benefits that come with them. But it’s also about pursuing freedom: freedom from doing mundane work, freedom to implement your own vision, even the freedom to play loose with the in-office hours. “You know, we haven’t seen Tom in the office for a month. But that’s OK. He’s really productive! And he makes me look good!”
Making a name for yourself at work means your credibility is enhanced, so people may actually listen when you speak up at a meeting. Making a name for yourself means people are more likely to follow you, because you’re a known quantity. Making a name for yourself means you get to call some shots, versus just responding to shots someone else is calling.
There are many benefits to making a name for yourself.
But the Bible points to a different focus.
“Being known for being smart, effective, or even just easy to work with fosters promotions and the financial benefits that come with them.”
Foolish Tower
The clearest scriptural example of a foolhardy focus on making a name for ourselves comes from the people who decided to build the Tower of Babel. They literally used those words to justify their prideful pursuit: “Then they said, ‘Come, let us build ourselves a city, with a tower that reaches to the heavens, so that we may make a name for ourselves…’” (Genesis 11:4, NIV).
God responded to their pride by scattering them and making them incomprehensible to one another (not unlike today’s political environment).
Jesus also warned about our desire to be seen and known. In the Sermon on the Mount, he said, “Be careful not to practice your righteousness in front of others to be seen by them. If you do, you will have no reward from your Father in heaven” (Matthew 6:1, NIV). He warned the people not to make a big deal about praying in public or giving to the poor just to be seen doing those things. He calls us to pursue authentic spiritual practices, not performative gestures done to impress others.
“He calls us to pursue authentic spiritual practices, not performative gestures done to impress others.”
Embarrassing Myself
You wouldn’t think pursuit of notoriety would be an issue in retirement. I may have deluded myself that people cared what I did when I was working. But every day in retirement it’s obvious that no one gives a flying french fry what I think. There are no coworkers or bosses or customers to impress these days. So I should be beyond that, right?
Unfortunately, I still strive to be known, respected, and admired, even if the potential audience is no larger than the group of us riding the elevator together. I’m continually chagrined by my posturing for respect, when it’s clear it’s not working. It’s hard to pretend everyone at the Y is marveling at my physical fitness when I’m wheezing on a treadmill, for instance. 
A Much Smaller, but Much Bigger, Audience
As I have sought to move on from human approval in this season of life, I was excited to read R. T. Kendall’s book, “An Audience of One.” Kendall writes how seductive it is to seek the world’s validation for our own esteem. He has a chapter on our desire for vindication, which he describes as being absolved from blame or false accusation. I would paraphrase it, “being right and making sure everyone knows it.”
If we are working for an audience of one, we need to pursue God’s glory, not our own. Kendall writes:
“When we pursue the glory of God, we must remember we are pursuing whatever glorifies, honors, and pleases Him. This means we must personally bow out entirely and respect what He is pleased to do… We need to be willing to affirm His right to pass us by and bless those He chooses to bless—even when that blessing does not include what we hoped for.”
That all makes sense. God is in control, his opinion is the only one that matters, and he loves me more than anyone else could. So, his validation should be enough. But yet, I can’t help but trying to impress anyone within view. Why don’t I act like God is enough for me?
“Why don’t I act like God is enough for me?”
I added a new layer to this when I read a passage from the book Thy Will Be Done,” by Andrew Murray, commenting on the description of David in 1 Samuel 13:14 (KJV): “…the Lord hath sought him a man after his own heart, and the Lord hath commanded him to be captain over his people…”
Murray wrote, “A man after Mine own heart: that speaks of the deep unseen mystery of the pleasure a man can give to God in heaven.”
That resonated with me. Do you ever consider that what we say or do can delight God? Maybe I haven’t been motivated by God’s validation because I’ve failed to consider how rewarding it is to delight the creator of the universe. What could be more powerful than that?
So, one of my priorities in retirement is weaning myself off the approval of men, and stopping to reflect on how encouraging, rewarding, and positive it is to know God is delighted with me.
Even when I am face-planting.
Sources:
R. T. Kendall, For an Audience of One: Seek the Praise That Comes From God Alone (Lake Mary: Charisma House, 2020).
From Tom Petersen’s “Repenting of Work.” Used with Permission.
