Faithful Five: Obedience Over Optics - Why Authenticity Wins in Real Estate

Garrett speaks directly to the agent who’s tired of pretending everything is fine. In a culture obsessed with performance and image—especially in real estate—Garrett challenges the belief that success requires perfection.

You’ll learn why choosing obedience to God over appearance isn’t just spiritually right—it’s strategically wise. With transparency and truth, Garrett shares how one toxic client nearly pulled him away from his family and how letting go of appearances helped him reclaim peace, obedience, and impact.

If you’re struggling with burnout, pressure, or the need to appear like you have it all together—this one is for you.

Key Takeaways:
✅ Obedience to God is more valuable than the applause of others
✅ You don't have to maintain a perfect image to succeed in real estate
✅ Real peace comes when your work aligns with your faith
✅ Authenticity builds more trust than performance ever could
✅ God’s favor matters more than clout in this industry

Chapters:
00:00 – Introduction: The Weight of Appearance
00:12 – The Pressure to Perform
00:26 – Choosing Obedience Over Optics
00:40 – The Call to Authenticity

Scripture Highlight:
📖 1 Samuel 16:7 – “The Lord does not look at the things people look at. People look at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart.”

🟡 Reflective Question:
Where in your business are you most tempted to protect your image instead of honor your Father in heaven?

⭐️ Rate & Review:
If this episode challenged or encouraged you, leave a 5-star review and share it with another Christian agent who needs to hear this message.

Resources & Opportunities:

📩 Join the Movement:
➡️ Pre-order Garrett's Book - The Balanced Breakthrough - HERE

📩 Are you tired of the hustle? Download my free guide: 3 Lies Christian Agents Believe—and the Truth That Will Set You Free
🔗 https://www.210collective.com/podcast

📞 Want to be in Business with Garrett and Christian agents around the globe? Schedule a call with Garrett to learn about the 2:10 Collective on the eXp Realty platform
🔗 https://calendly.com/garrettmaroon/210collective

🙌 Join Garrett’s FREE online community for Christian agents who want to sell 3-4 homes/month:
🔗 https://www.skool.com/servingnotselling/about

📩 Send Garrett your Hampton Roads & Richmond, VA buyer/seller referrals:
🔗 7572662876

📲 Follow Garrett on Instagram for more insights and encouragement!

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Transcript

0:02

Today I want to speak to the agent who's tired of putting on a face. You're producing, but you're not at peace and nobody knows. You know, we live in a highlight real world. In real estate, that pressure is magnified. You're expected to look like you're crushing it, even if you're crumbling inside. But success that requires you to fake it is not success. Obedience to the Lord might cost you clout, but obedience is what pleases God, and it's where real peace lives. We, faithful agents, should choose obedience over optics. Stop sacrificing your soul to protect your image. The reality is, you can't build God's kingdom while maintaining a fake one for yourself. When your image becomes an idol, your integrity gets sacrificed. So what does obedience look like practically in uncomfortable business moments? What does obedience look like living on social media when we're supposed to tell everyone around us that everything is great, the market's great, we're doing wonderful? Right, the world thinks that what we do is we wake up, we post on social media, we go out, we show million dollar homes, and we all make hundreds of thousands of dollars a year. That's what the world thinks is happening in our industry. And if we play into that, we start playing into optics and not. obedience instead practically it's okay i'm not advocating that we go around and tell everyone our problems right we need a small select group of people that we could share that with but the reality is for us as believers especially we can't build god's kingdom if we're trying to build a fake one for ourselves obedience looks like us being able to be honest on social media being being able to be honest with even some of our clients to hate you know honestly it's been tough or to be able to say, man, things are hard at home, right? But not let it get you down and you continue to serve them well. Nobody wants to be around someone who's negative all the time, but to be able to be honest and recognize that we should pursue what does obedience look like above? What does everyone think of me? know, 1 Samuel 16 verse 7 says, looks at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart. I once kept a toxic client because i didn't want to look weak but that deal nearly broke me i was running around showing them houses all day every day trying to pretend like everything was great every time they wanted to buy a house they wanted to lowball like crazy when i said hey that's probably not gonna happen they would constantly say i thought you were good negotiator and they kept pushing and pushing and they never let me alone when i tried to protect my time they got frustrated and angry but what did i do i kept him anyways because i didn't want to look like someone who could it hold on to a client At that point in my career, I had literally never lost a client or fired a client, which I have done since then, right? But I never let somebody go. I'd never fired anybody before. And so I wanted to maintain that reality of saying, I've got a hundred percent. Nobody ever leaves me instead of asking the Lord, Lord, what is obedience look like in this scenario? How do I be? honest with them not let them run me around how do i'd be honest with them to say hey this is not working out how do i do that in obedience because it was pulling me away from my family it was making me show up worse to my kids what is obedience look like for me to say you know what i'd rather walk away from money than walk away from obedience obedience in honoring the lord obedience and trusting that he's going to provide when i walk away from a situation that i shouldn't be in obedience that it's not about how I look from the outward appearance, but the Lord is looking at my heart. What does obedience over optics look like? If this resonates with you, I hope that you subscribe to the podcast, leave a five star review, share this with a friend. Ultimately, my hope and heart is to get this message out to more Christians in the real estate space. I want to close with this question for you to ponder today. Where in your business are you most tempted to protect your image instead of honor your Father in heaven? I love you, faithful agents. I will see you next week.