“Quite honestly, we don’t do a lot of public recognition around church. We don’t name things after donors or bring people up front to talk about how great they are so we all can clap at them. We try to keep things more anonymous for a variety of reasons. One is that we believe service to the Lord should be done for Him, and not so I can receive accolades. When Jesus famously spoke about mustard seed faith, He ended that discussion by saying, “when you have done all that you were commanded, you should say, ‘We are unworthy servants; we’ve only done our duty.’”
Another reason why we don’t make a big show of commending people is because we live in the midst of a secular culture that thrives on selfish attention. That’s why social media exists. People often get very upset when they feel like they’re not recognized enough at work. Our human hearts want to be celebrated and, frankly, even when we are it’s never enough.
But are we neglecting this Romans 12 command to honor one another? Well, what are we being told to do? First, it’s not for me to be honored. The command is that I go out of my way to value
Christians around me. To put them first. And not to do so so that I can then turn and say, “Ok it’s my turn.” In fact, this command is meant to keep our natural desire to honor ourselves in check.”
