EP 41: Whose Glory Is Your Work Really For?

The fastest way to burn out at work is to build your identity on applause. We sit down and ask a question that gets uncomfortably practical: whose glory is my work for? Not just on the big, public days, but in the quiet hours when nobody notices, nobody thanks you, and the tasks feel small.

We start with a Biblical foundation for a Christian view of work, going back to Genesis 2 where God gives Adam work before the fall. That changes how we see vocation and calling, whether you’re active duty military, a veteran adjusting to life after service, a teacher, a homemaker, a student, or someone grinding through a job that feels unseen. We also unpack what “glory” actually means, and how the praise of people can become a subtle idol even when our words sound spiritual.

From promotions and award ceremonies to the everyday temptation to self promote, we talk about practical ways to redirect credit to God without slipping into fake humility or self deprecation. We also name the cost of chasing “trinkets” like rank, recognition, and status, and why that chase often produces anxiety, anger, envy, and a fragile sense of self, especially when military structure disappears after separation.

Finally, we get into the workday moments that test us most: distractions and interruptions. We share how looking up, listening well, and treating people as the assignment can be one of the clearest ways to glorify God, following Jesus’ example of stopping for the person in front of Him. If you want a stronger Christian work ethic, steadier joy, and a cleaner motive at work, hit play, then subscribe, share this with a friend, and leave a review so more people can find the show.

SHOW NOTES:

Don't forget we want to hear from you! Drop us your conversation ideas at hello@militarywellnesscollective.com

RESOURCES:

1. Glory in the Ordinary: Why Your Work in the Home Matters to God (The Gospel Coalition): Reissig, Courtney: 9781433552670: Amazon.com: Books

2. Amazon.com : unseen sara hagerty

3. Amazon.com : redeeming productivity reagan rose

Transcript

Memorial Day Welcome And Why Work Matters

SPEAKER_00 0:00

Hey guys, welcome back this week for another episode. I believe this one will publish on Memorial Day. So hopefully you're enjoying some time off and also thinking about those who have gone before us. And always a few folks on my minds this morning. If you're new to this podcast, welcome. My name is Brian O'Day, and I serve as a pastor in Jacksonville, North Carolina. Also served for 10 years active duty and a few years reserves in the Marine Corps. And I'm joined by my lovely wife, Kelly O'Day.

SPEAKER_01 0:36

Hey.

SPEAKER_00 0:36

She's been with me really all that time. Also joined with our good friends Joshua and Britney Brown. Joshua served 20 years, because he's tougher than I am, 20 years in the Marine Corps, and now pastors a church outside of Marine Corps based Camp Lejeune as well, here in eastern North Carolina. And Brittany is a budding speaker as well in her own right. And so does several women's conferences and the like, and really gifted in that. And Kelly is a high school teacher. Man, so much ministry opportunities every day in the high school classroom. So this week we're gonna discuss whose glory is my work for? Whose glory is my work for? And so I always like to make sure we're talking about the right things. So what is work?

SPEAKER_02 1:36

Great question. I don't have a definition in front of me,

What Counts As Work

SPEAKER_02 1:40

but I indicated with my facial expressions that I would love to answer this question.

SPEAKER_01 1:44

So uh here we go.

SPEAKER_02 1:46

Is there a passage that jumps to mind about work? So the passage that comes out to me is right from when God created us.

SPEAKER_04 1:54

That's what I was thinking. Before the fall.

SPEAKER_02 1:58

And so often we take now, some of you are thinking of the passage after the fall, and God comes down. You will work by the sweat of your brow, and it's gonna be hard and and just difficult, and there's obviously going to be pain involved with it. But I want to take back, go back a little bit further than that, and just remind people that Adam was called and created to tend the garden before the fall. And so work was actually created to be a good thing, something we are to enjoy, something we are created to do and just see the glories of what God has done before us. And so it's just a wonderful and beautiful thing. And so often we we take the after fall version instead of realize that no, no, no, this is a good thing God has m created for us.

SPEAKER_04 3:00

So I also think in Glory in the Ordinary, I'm trying to remember who wrote the book, but she talks about how we associate work in the West with a paycheck. Or just independent, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 3:11

Yeah, instead of a means to survive.

SPEAKER_04 3:14

Yeah, yeah. When it's not like work is anything we're doing, like folding laundry is work or dishes is work. We whatever we're doing that's producing something is work, it doesn't always have a paycheck at the end of it. And so I don't even remember I'll put that book in the show.

SPEAKER_02 3:35

And the word before the work is also very important. So many people say, I have to go to work. If we just get to a point where we get to say, I get to go to this work, it changes your whole life.

SPEAKER_00 3:47

No. Yeah, so that's a good point. So this applies, this topic applies to everybody. So for those of you who are in the military and your job is to do some very specific military job, that is your work. If you are someone who is working another job, this applies to you. Maybe you're listening to this because you know somebody who's in the military, you're married to somebody in the military, something like that. This applies to you. If you are a homemaker and you're raising a family, like that is work. That is something that you do before God. Whether you get a paycheck or not is, you know, kind of inconsequential. What is your work before God? So have that in mind as we're talking about this.

SPEAKER_03 4:32

I would say student too. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 4:33

Yes, student is a job. Like you are to do that before God. Like we, the Lord placed the man, Genesis 2. The Lord placed the man in the garden to work it and keep it. And the Lord has expectations for how we work. Okay. So we're talking about work. So whatever all the things that we do with our mind and our words and our and our bodies, our strength, our vigor, our will, all of those these types of things. Okay, so what's that word glory? Brittany, I feel like you're our definition girl. So what is glory?

SPEAKER_04 5:10

Well, the Webster's dictionary defines glory in a few different ways. Praise, honor, or distinction, extended by common

What Glory Means In Real Life

SPEAKER_04 5:20

consent, worshipful praise, honor, and thanksgiving, a distinguished quality or asset, a state of great gratification. But I really think the top one here, praise, honor, or distinction, or worshipful, praise, honor, and thanksgiving is interesting just in light of scripture when the word calls us that in all we do, do all to the glory of God. And that just makes me think, what does that mean? Am I praising God? Am I honoring God? Is there a distinction between my work and the world's work? Am I worshipful in this work? Am I doing it in a glory, glorying way? Am I honoring God? Am I thanking God for this work? So when I think of that passage with this definition, it just kind of brings light to more for me. So glory.

SPEAKER_00 6:07

Good. So we're asking the question whose glory, whose praise, whose adoration, whose worthiness is my work for?

SPEAKER_04 6:18

Distinction.

SPEAKER_00 6:19

Right. And you you already gave away the answer. Oh, the answer it should be the one true God. Okay, but what are what are the false gods that we are prone to serve with our work? Self-promotion.

SPEAKER_03 6:34

Seeking our own glory. I've j I just thought about like I was a homemaker at a point, you know, stay-at-home mom, teacher now, like just that temptation that lies there. That yeah, I've just gone up and down with like, I just have to remind myself whose glory am I seeking? Because my flesh will like the praise of man or seek the praise of man, or you know, just uh and it never never goes well.

SPEAKER_00 7:04

Yeah. So for self-ness. So when we're trying to bring glory to ourself and somebody commends us for our work that God has given us the strength, the ability, the opportunity to do, we're tempted to like get it. I I am when we receive that glory for ourselves. What should we be doing instead of like receiving that glory for ourselves?

SPEAKER_03 7:28

Giving the credit to God. Yeah, pointing it back towards the world. It is it is because of the Lord's work in my life that I there's anything good that I do.

SPEAKER_04 7:36

I think it's hard to do that sometimes because when we peel back, we want to be seen, we want to be validated. And and sometimes it's not like the on the forefront of my mind, like I am doing this for myself. It's like hidden in our heart, and we end up I end up deceiving myself. I am doing this for the glory of God, until it like peels back a little. Like, but are you really, or do you want to be seen? Um, I read a book years ago called Unseen, and she talks about the reason we have a desire so deeply within us to be seen is because it's God given. We're to be seen by the one true God, to be loved, chosen, set apart by Him. And we end up pointing our gaze at something else and wanting other people to see us, and we feel depleted and exhausted because we're looking to be seen by the wrong people. We need to realize we're seen and loved by God. And I just think that is something God has worked in my own life that if I peel that back, self wants to be seen and lifted up.

SPEAKER_00 8:40

So I think in the military, there are some really key moments when we get praise, right? And so if we're doing well, there's just key moments we get praise. So those are promotions, those are personal awards. Somebody comes and like pins a medal upon our chest, right? There are other other times we get, you know, evaluations, like written evaluations. Anybody, you guys, stay-at-home moms, ever get a written evaluation? You're doing this well, you're doing this poorly. You're the best stay-at-home mom that has ever existed. You change those diapers better than anybody has ever changed diapers before. In a myriad, right? And we always love these like fancy words and personal awards for the myriad of duties performed, right? That doesn't happen. Okay, but anyway, but in the military, we do get those. There's formations. People stand around and they hear Joshua Brown,

Praise, Promotions, And Redirecting Credit

SPEAKER_00 9:40

you did all these amazing things. So, what can we do to turn that glory to God?

SPEAKER_04 9:50

That's a great question. I think there's a lot. Go away. You go, you lean forward, Gary. I already talked a lot. Go ahead.

SPEAKER_02 9:59

I could just riff on this for a long time, but I'll just I would just say uh sounded like a teenage term. This is riff on a musical term, I think. In a military unit, I need to step that back before before you get to the award ceremony. What happened up to that point really is what matters. Now you can turn that for the glory of God and give all credit to him. Yes. That is a a lot of times you get an opportunity to speak and you can talk about the things that you did, and you can you can deflect the glory to from yourself off of their gaze and bring it upon God by explaining it very explicitly. But before you get there, I think most of the people that would be in that formation have an opinion about that award, about that formation, about what they're doing. Some of them are just there and they have no idea what's happening, and they're just told to stand there and they're not listening anyway. I'm not talking about them. Uh, but what I am talking about is the guys who have been working with the people being awarded. And there are two types of awards that people can get. Ones that were deserved because they truly lifted up the whole unit, because they helped in extremely good ways, because they they actually helped everyone else out, and in doing so showed the glory of God working in and through them. And then there's the person who got the award because they trampled everybody else on their way to the top to appear to be what they are. And oh yeah, and I I hate to like paint a negative light here, but it is very clear to many people in the formation when somebody receives an award, whether they're in one of those camps or the other. And because they know, oh, this award was written because he they had X number of quotas, they needed this, and he actually wrecked this whole section in order to make his section look better. And it's very obvious to all the people in the middle management level and below, and even to a lot of the higher-up enlisted officers. And then there's the people that truly are running around doing the work of the Lord, loving people well, lifting like have the mentality of a rising tide, lifts all ships and makes the unit better. And and that guy, when he receives an award, everybody in the in the unit is watching it happen going, Yes, this is great. I'm so glad he's being recognized because he deserves it.

SPEAKER_00 12:53

Yeah. So yeah, so I think a few specific things that I'm hearing you say, andor adding some of my own thoughts as well, is we should be thankful. Right. So if it's one of the genuine ones where like we we worked well before the Lord and before our the folks that we're working with, we would do well to be thankful for that. And we should praise God for that. So, man, in that citation that was just read, you I was praised for my intellect and my ability to figure out problems. I just want you to know that God has given that to me. And the only reason I've been able to do that is because a sovereign God decided to do that. And I hope it's been helpful for other people. The other thing to do is to praise those. Like you said, sometimes it's like, hey, a rising tide lifts all ships. I happen to be the leader, I happen to be the guy who's getting the award. But really, all the actual work happened by other people. And so it's a great time to praise those. Hey, I realize I'm kind of the figurehead for this award. I just want to recognize this is all because my shop or my squad or my platoon or my company, battalion, regiment, whatever level you're at, I say I recognize that it is the work of a bunch of people that are actually standing in this formation. And I just want to commend you guys for your work. And this is an opportunity for us to recognize that work. I think you could do similar things in promotion ceremonies, in changes of command, and those types of things. We can deflect the praise to the Lord, and we can, you know, include other people in that personal recognition.

SPEAKER_04 14:43

Yeah. I also think it's really important, like the outward things that I'm hearing are good, right? But they have to start in the heart. Like we can even do those things outward and still be walking in vain glory. That's just empty and it's our own. And I think I've found myself there by accident, not even really trying to get there. You know, like I'm doing things on the outside that people would probably think I'm giving glory to the Lord. But my heart

Humility In The Heart Not Just Words

SPEAKER_04 15:10

is like wrestling. And I think that's normal, but we need to wrestle well with that. It makes me think of humility. Like, as I hear you guys talking, you're talking about deflecting the praise to God and not taking it on yourself. Like, just we need to have a heart that's full of humility. It's not thinking less of ourselves, right? It's thinking about ourselves less, which I think is important. Like, who am I thinking about most in this? Am I truly thinking about God? If I'm thinking about God in my heart, then I know I'm coming from a genuine place. But if I'm thinking about myself and how I'm perceived and how I want to give God the glory, then it it gets twisted.

SPEAKER_03 15:48

And our work will be different, I think, with the different goals. Yeah, for sure. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 15:54

And just one one kind of like counterfeit is self-deprecation.

SPEAKER_01 16:00

Yes.

SPEAKER_00 16:00

So someone tries to praise you for something you have done, maybe and you're like, oh no, I, you know, I'm an idiot, no good at anything. I whatever. Like that's not that's still drawing attention to yourself. And so we don't want to self-deprecate. Like we just speaking bad about yourself is still talking about yourself. And so let's try to not do that. Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 16:24

So what's a good way to turn that around?

SPEAKER_00 16:27

Again, point the point the praise to God, be thankful, be thankful to God, be thankful for other people. It does affect. So let's go, let's go on that. Like, how does it affect how I work? How does working for the glory of God affect how I work as a Christian?

SPEAKER_02 16:47

Well, going back to what I was talking about about the two types of awards, the person who is working for the award and for the recognition of man, it comes out in that way that they will do anything to puff themselves up, and everybody sees it. Wow.

SPEAKER_00 17:05

So just that could be a rank, a billet, or a personal award, and maybe others I'm not thinking of, but those are like the three that immediately come to mind when you say, I'm working for this trinket, not for the glory of God. That's right. Yes, I just called and ranks and billets. Trinkets is avoid hay and stubble.

SPEAKER_04 17:34

Right.

SPEAKER_00 17:34

Hay and stubble. Yeah, yeah. I'm sorry.

SPEAKER_02 17:36

Yeah, so it it cre and it's it's actually destructive for the person doing it. And here's why. There will come a point when they realize their trinkets. And they will realize that all of their work and their the the scorched earth that they left behind them was all for nothing.

SPEAKER_03 17:57

It reminds me of that's what I have opened. I'm sorry, I interrupted you.

SPEAKER_02 18:04

I just all vanity, yeah. Yeah, it's all right. But the other thing that'll happen to them is there will come a time when they work for that award and then they don't get it. And it wrecks them. Yeah, like who are who am I? They start losing all sorts of identity, they start having all sorts of they're just striving after the wind.

SPEAKER_00 18:25

Mental health problems of anxiety, anger, envy, depression, depression, right? Like if we are focused on these earthly trivial things, then it actually leads us to all these very common problems in the military. The other thing is if you think the mental health battle for active duty military is a battle, wait till you're a veteran. And all that stuff gets stripped

When Recognition Becomes An Idol

SPEAKER_00 18:55

away like in a day. Oh, yeah. You're like all that, all that stuff. Like, there's no awards for being a cool veteran. You know, there's a little bit of interesting stuff that happens in veteran organizations, but basically that all just kind of goes away really quickly.

SPEAKER_02 19:12

Yeah, you go from wow, you're doing all these great things. You've been in the military this long, and here's your awards and all this great stuff, and then you walk off the base for the for the last time, and it's like nobody cares anymore. You don't get that daily recognition or that salute or that whatever to to lift you up with pride a little bit. But then on the other side, to the person who is living and they wake up each day thankful for the day, thankful for another day of life, thankful for their family, thankful for the job they have, thankful that they live in the place they live, and then they go to work and they're thankful for the work that they're doing, and they're just they're just enjoying God's creation all around them. It's amazing.

SPEAKER_00 19:58

Yeah, joy is a big way to glorify God, right? Like grumbling is not a good way to glorify God. Complaining is not a great way to glorify God because we we as Christians are saying, I have been saved by the one true God, and I'm gonna live with him forever. Right. Amen.

SPEAKER_03 20:16

So good works. I love what how you said earlier, like, not we have to work, like we get to work. And I think that's just like a mind shift that needs to happen. And I was just thinking about in the education world, like when we're striving for man's praise or like thank yous for what we're doing, we are gonna be like just not ever. I mean, we're gonna be let down by that. Because so I and I just see that like on a I've I've done that myself, and then I just see it like as a culture. And I have to remind myself like it's striving to please the Lord and honor the Lord and what I do, not not to get, you know, people noticing that I'm doing a good job or that I'm doing my job, period.

SPEAKER_00 21:04

Like um there's a the there's an expectancy, right? If we're working for the glory of God, then when I wake up and I'm going to work, there should be an expectancy that God's gonna do something cool.

SPEAKER_03 21:19

Yeah, or that it's gonna be easy or good, you know. So then when it's like hard, like this challenge, like when I have discipline issues in my classroom, it feels like it's hard. It's hard to wake up like, I'm so thankful that I get to do this. You know, yes, but God has stuff to teach me in that, you know, and yeah.

SPEAKER_04 21:38

It makes me think I was taking a writing class one time and she said it was a Christian author and she's published several books, and she said, If God called you to write a book, would you write it if no one ever read it? It was at the beginning of the class addressing us all. Like, who are you here for? Like, God has given you a work and nobody may ever see it, but he did it. For you to give him the glory, would you do it? And I think we can ask that in all of our lives. Would I be doing what I'm doing if nobody ever said anything to me about it? That's a heart check for me. Like, yeah, who am I doing this school?

SPEAKER_00 22:12

So I had an instructor during my entry-level schooling. We'll call him Dave because that's his name. Um but he I think he's still active duty, so I'll not use his last name. But he had the shortest safety brief ever. And every Friday, as we were getting ready to leave and go off to do whatever we're gonna do on the weekend, he would say, Do the right thing for the right reasons, even if nobody is looking.

SPEAKER_04 22:35

That's integrity.

SPEAKER_00 22:37

That's genuine integrity, even if nobody's looking. Write the book God has called you to write, even if nobody ever reads it. Do the right thing in your office, even if nobody ever does it. Do the right thing in the gym on that run, you know, cleaning your weapon,

Joy, Integrity, And Unseen Faithfulness

SPEAKER_00 22:55

or like whatever you're doing this week.

SPEAKER_04 22:57

Shopping your floor.

SPEAKER_00 22:59

Do that for the glory of God, even if nobody ever sees it, even if nobody ever praises you for it. The thing we're aiming towards is the last day for the Lord Jesus Himself to say, Well done, good and faithful servant.

SPEAKER_03 23:16

And that's no matter what you're doing. I think in our culture, there's like tears, levels, you know, of like this work is seen as more valuable than this work. Yes. It's just not true. Like, no matter what we do, it's important to the Lord, and we should do that.

SPEAKER_00 23:33

Yeah, what's the psalm? I'd rather be a doorkeeper in the house of the Lord.

unknown 23:38

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 23:39

I know what you're talking about. Yeah, right.

SPEAKER_02 23:41

Yeah. When you say hierarchies within a society, I think of small town USA, where a lot of military members come from. And when they join the military, it was a big deal in their town. And when they go back to their town, they're like the one of the only military members. And people are buying them lunch and they see them in their uniform, they're like, whoa. But when they come to the base and the towns around the base, they're just some other random, nameless, faceless military member. No, it's oh yeah, you're a Marine, great. So is like everybody on the street. So it's just kind of one of those things where in the in the scenario of that, like if you are doing it for the recognition, you struggle with that. If you are doing it for the recognition of or for the Lord and just to do the right thing, like it doesn't matter where you're at, it doesn't matter what job you're doing, it's where the Lord has you.

SPEAKER_00 24:42

Yeah, so we need to not take upon ourselves privileges that we think we've earned somehow. So I remember, you know, Joshua and I served at the height of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, and you'd be walking into the exchange on base, and like dudes hadn't like shaved or cut their hair and they're you know looking like trash walking into the exchange. You're like, hey man, you need to turn around and go fix yourself before you walk into the exchange. That's what we Marines do. I know that doesn't happen in all the services. And sometimes the guys would be like, especially if I wasn't in uniform, guys would be like, I just came back from Iraq. I'm like, Yeah, man, me too. Go cut, go get a haircut. You know, it's like sometimes we we take on privileges that are actually not ours. We if we're thankful, if we're submissive, if we're working for the glory of God, we don't do that kind of stuff. Yeah, yeah. Yeah, that's good.

SPEAKER_04 25:37

Oh, go ahead. One of the words of glory was distinction. Like, is my life distinctly different than how the world is working? Like that will show me too in my giving the glory to the Lord.

SPEAKER_00 25:51

Which the word holiness is definitely next door to that conversation that we're distinct, we're different, we should work differently. One that came up, Kelly and I were actually having a conversation on our car ride down here this morning, dealing with distractions. In our work lives, I feel like we get distracted like all the time. So, how does working for the glory of God cause me to think differently about distractions and than those around me?

SPEAKER_03 26:19

Let me share

Distractions As People God Sent

SPEAKER_03 26:20

my experience.

SPEAKER_00 26:20

Sure.

SPEAKER_03 26:21

I think so many days I go into work with my to-do list. Like I've got to get ready for my day, get ready for it.

SPEAKER_00 26:27

You don't write down three classes.

SPEAKER_03 26:28

Hush, I'm not a listmaker. It's all in my head. It's great. So I get there and I know, like, I've got to do these things to be ready to teach my classes. And I'll be interrupted, you know, by by people that come and talk. And I I have that battle in my head of like, I've got all these things to do before before the first student walks in. But just I have to remind myself, like, why am I doing this? And the people are way more important than me having my perfect plan going into teaching. Like, and so one thing that I have to do is I have to take my eyes off my computer screen because I could be listening and still working. I've done that. I've I'm guilty of that. That I will listen, but I'm not really listening. I'm not, I'm not showing them that they're important. And I think I was convicted of that this week where I had started to do that. And then I just was like, you know what? I'm gonna take my eyes off my computer and I'm gonna look at this person and engage, like, do the act of listening and ask questions and and not rush it, not you know, end it or just know that like this is why I'm here, just relationally with my other coworkers and other students, like just to be there and not so focused on my tasks.

SPEAKER_04 27:42

Oh, that reminds me of Elizabeth Elliott. I like obviously, if you listen to this for a while, you know I love her. But when she always said, like, in order for thy will to be done, my will has to be undone. And I think about that a lot with my to-do list, Kelly, because I struggle with the same thing. And she also said distractions are opportunities, like interruptions are opportunities. Yeah, and that because I'm like you, except my list is written now, but I feel the same. Like, this is not your time block. You can come back in 15 minutes when my pomodoro time is in. We could talk about this. I'm just kidding. I've gotten better about that, but I like my heart is like knit together together.

SPEAKER_00 28:21

Who is our example in all of this?

SPEAKER_03 28:23

Jesus, Jesus.

SPEAKER_00 28:25

And how many miracles? This would be a fun homework project.

SPEAKER_03 28:28

Oh, we're gonna do that.

SPEAKER_00 28:29

How many miracles did Jesus do on his way to do something else? I know so much of his ministry. It's like, and he was passing through, you know, Caesarea. He was passing through Samaria, he was whatever, and then he does the he stops. He is Zacchaeus is a recent one. Joshua and I were listening to a sermon about Zacchaeus. He was just passing through this area, and then he stops, he calls Zacchaeus by name, and then he's having dinner with Zacchaeus. This is not a short interruption, this is a significant interruption because Jesus lived his entire life for the glory of God.

SPEAKER_01 29:09

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 29:10

Awesome. Well, thank y'all so much for sitting down with us this week or elliptical treadmill, running, whatever you're doing while you listen to us, we appreciate it. If you've just kind of been a sporadic listener, we're

Weekly Rhythm And Closing Charge

SPEAKER_00 29:25

thankful for you. But I would encourage you to subscribe and to make us part of your weekly battle rhythm that you would listen maybe on the way into work on Monday morning or Tuesday morning or whatever, and put us into the rhythm. There will be some episodes that'll be a little more impactful for you and maybe a little more applicable to you. But our commitment is to publish a new episode every Monday, giving you biblical resources, practical resources for the work that God has for you. Thank you so much for joining us. We love you guys.