Have you ever worked hard on a project and then not gotten credit? Or perhaps someone else took the recognition that you deserved. Either way, it is very upsetting and demoralizing. We also want credit for our achievements. We all want to be acknowledged for who we are and what we do.

There are three ways we can acknowledge someone. First, we can recognize them as an individual, such as, “He is the CEO of the company.”; second, we can know their attributions, such as “She is a wonderful administrator.”; and third, we can give people credit for their actions or inactions, such as “They worked together as a team to finalize the project before the deadline.” Let’s examine what the Bible says about each type of recognition.

Individuals

Why do we recognize people through their titles, status and honorariums? Because it gives order to our lives and those around us. It lets us know the power and prestige of people around us. For example, you would not go to a bank president for heart surgery, nor  would you go to a surgeon for a bank loan. We all know surgeons perform medical procedures and banking presidents handle financial matters. Their titles tell us which role both people play.

Just as we want to be recognized for who we are, God wants us to acknowledge Who He is. Jesus warned us several times about the consequences of denying, or not recognizing, Him. He said, “Whosoever therefore shall confess me before men, him will I [Jesus] confess also before my Father which is in heaven. But whosoever shall deny me before men, him will I also deny before my Father which is in heaven”^[1].

Again, in Mark 8:38 , He warned, “Whosoever therefore shall be ashamed of me [Jesus] and of my words in this adulterous and sinful generation; of him also shall the Son of man be ashamed, when he cometh in the glory of his Father with the holy angels.”

Jesus also warned Christians that they could know who was a true leader from God by whether or not that person acknowledged him:

Little children, it is the last time: and as ye have heard that antichrist shall come, even now are there many antichrists; whereby we know that it is the last time. They went out from us, but they were not of us; for if they had been of us, they would no doubt have continued with us: but they went out, that they might be made manifest that they were not all of us. But ye have an unction from the Holy One, and ye know all things. I have not written unto you because ye know not the truth, but because ye know it, and that no lie is of the truth. Who is a liar but he that denieth that Jesus is the Christ? He is antichrist, that denieth the Father and the Son. Whosoever denieth the Son, the same hath not the Father: [but] he that acknowledgeth the Son hath the Father also.^[2]

Also, we read in II John 6-11:

And this is love, that we walk after his commandments. This is the commandment, That, as ye have heard from the beginning, ye should walk in it. For many deceivers are entered into the world, who confess not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh. This is a deceiver and an antichrist. Look to yourselves, that we lose not those things which we have wrought, but that we receive a full reward. Whosoever transgresseth, and abideth not in the doctrine of Christ, hath not God. He that abideth in the doctrine of Christ, he hath both the Father and the Son. If there come any unto you, and bring not this doctrine, receive him not into your house, neither bid him God speed: for he that biddeth him God speed is a partaker of his evil deeds.

The Scriptures plainly relate that if we deny Jesus Christ, He will deny us; but if we acknowledge Him, He will acknowledge us. Regardless of our position, the Bible also tells us that Jesus cannot deny Himself. It is a faithful saying: For if we be dead with him [Jesus], we shall live with him: if we suffer, we shall also reign with him: if we deny him, he also will deny us: if we believe not, yet he abideth faithful: he cannot deny himself.^[3]

Those who acknowledge Jesus Christ as their Savior will have eternal rewards. He that overcometh, the same shall be clothed in white raiment; and I will not blot out his name out of the book of life, but I will confess his name before my Father, and before his angels^[4]. Even if we do not acknowledge Jesus during our lifetime, God says we will acknowledge Him at the beginning of eternity:

For none of us liveth to himself, and no man dieth to himself. For whether we live, we live unto the Lord; and whether we die, we die unto the Lord: whether we live therefore, or die, we are the Lord’s. For to this end Christ both died, and rose, and revived, that he might be Lord both of the dead and living. But why dost thou judge thy brother? or why dost thou set at nought thy brother? for we shall all stand before the judgment seat of Christ. For it is written, As I live, saith the Lord, every knee shall bow to me, and every tongue shall confess to God. So then every one of us shall give account of himself to God. Let us not therefore judge one another any more: but judge this rather, that no man put a stumblingblock or an occasion to fall in his brother’s way.^[5]

Characteristics

Do you remember how you felt when your parents told you that you were a good child, or an intelligent thinker or a loving person? Maybe they saw something in you that no one else could see or possibly something that was evident to everyone. It didn’t really matter though. What was truly important was that they saw an admirable quality within you and they acknowledged it. Acknowledgment is so important for our characteristics also.

A child who is repeatedly told that he is naughty will behave untoward. Likewise, a child who is praised often for being a good child, will behave better. Children live up to our expectations often. Think about it. We all know of that one person that was “no good” and “never would become anything.” What happened to that person? Usually, they fulfilled the prophecy: they acted “no good” and “never became anything.” That is how much power acknowledgment holds within it, whether good or bad.

Although acknowledgment for our position or successes in life is sometimes hard to obtain, it is usually easy to receive acknowledgment for our characteristics. How many times have you said someone was helpful, friendly, moody, lazy, warm, mean, determined, rebellious. . . ? The traits go on and on. It is very difficult not to acknowledge the characteristics of the people we are often around. It is natural for us. It is so natural that it is done in Heaven:

And immediately I [John] was in the spirit; and, behold, a throne was set in heaven, and one sat on the throne. And he that sat was to look upon like a jasper and a sardine stone: and there was a rainbow round about the throne, in sight like unto an emerald. And round about the throne were four and twenty seats: and upon the seats I saw four and twenty elders sitting, clothed in white raiment; and they had on their heads crowns of gold. And out of the throne proceeded lightnings and thunderings and voices: and there were seven lamps of fire burning before the throne, which are the seven Spirits of God. And before the throne there was a sea of glass like unto crystal: and in the midst of the throne, and round about the throne, were four beasts full of eyes before and behind. And the first beast was like a lion, and the second beast like a calf, and the third beast had a face like a man, and the fourth beast was like a flying eagle. And the four beasts had each of them six wings about him; and they were full of eyes within: and they rest not day and night, saying, Holy, holy, holy, Lord God Almighty, which was, and is, and is to come. And when those beasts give glory and honour and thanks to him that sat on the throne, who liveth for ever and ever, the four and twenty elders fall down before him that sat on the throne, and worship him that liveth for ever and ever, and cast their crowns before the throne, saying, Thou art worthy, O Lord, to receive glory and honour and power: for thou hast created all things, and for thy pleasure they are and were created.^[6]

We clearly read here that the beasts full of eyes were constantly saying, “Holy, holy, holy, Lord God Almighty, which was, and is, and is to come.” They were continually acknowledging the holiness of God. These creatures did not only say it once or twice a day, but the text says that they rest not day and night. That means they never stop acknowledging God’s character.

Exploits

Recently, there was a television program that had a story about two very wealthy men who are in a race to become the first person to go around the world in a hot-air balloon. In an age of super trains, sonic air travel, and deep space exploration, why would anyone spend the time, effort and money, while risking their own personal safety, to travel in a hot-air balloon? The answer is simple: Because the person who succeeds first will receive acknowledgment for his efforts: his name will go down in the annals of history.

Although it is natural for us to want acknowledgment for our achievements, we do not always receive it. Sometimes it is due to jealousy, or politics, misunderstanding, or simply lack of space in the history books. It is an age-old problem. The Bible speaks of it in Ecclesiastes:

There was a little city, and few men within it; and there came a great king against it, and besieged it, and built great bulwarks against it: now there was found in it a poor wise man, and he by his wisdom delivered the city; yet no man remembered that same poor man. Then said I [Solomon], Wisdom is better than strength: nevertheless the poor man’s wisdom is despised, and his words are not heard. The words of wise men are heard in quiet more than the cry of him that ruleth among fools.^[7]

The poor, wise man who delivered the city surely wanted to be acknowledgment for saving the city. However, the Bible says that no one remembered him. How terrible it must have been for that poor, wise man. He had delivered the city from destruction and no one acknowledged him. How must God feel then? He has delivered all of us  in many other ways, including from the curse of sin and death, yet we fail to acknowledge Him. Acknowledgment is important. It is important to us and it is important to God. Therefore, should not we always give credit to whom credit is due?

I will open my mouth in a parable: I will utter dark sayings of old: which we have heard and known, and our fathers have told us. We will not hide them from their children, shewing to the generation to come the praises of the LORD, and his strength, and his wonderful works that he hath done. For he established a testimony in Jacob, and appointed a law in Israel, which he commanded our fathers, that they should make them know to their children: that the generation to come might know them, even the children which should be born; who should arise and declare them to their children: that they might set their hope in God, and not forget the works of God, but keep his commandments: and might not be as their fathers, a stubborn and rebellious generation; a generation that set not their heart aright, and whose spirit was not stedfast with God.^[8]

 Additional Scriptures:

I Timothy 2:5-6

Proverbs 3:5-6

Proverbs 30:7-9

II Timothy 2:24-26

I Peter 5:6-7

© Copyright 1998 by Synthia Robinson-Pack. All rights reserved.