Are award ceremonies wrong?
Question:
Good Evening Brother,
I have been thinking about award ceremonies recently, and I've been having mixed feelings about them. One part of me is saying that they are good and are used to recognizing good hard-working people who don't get enough appreciation as they should. But another part of me thinks that award ceremonies are pretentious and are solely based on popularity or are even incorrectly skewed by the board that decided. This ranges from award ceremonies done at high schools and colleges to ceremonies done by the Oscars or Emmys.
There is an upcoming Award Banquet done for the New Student Orientation Leadership at my school that I'm a part of, and I've been very hesitant about participating in voting on who I think should be awarded certain categories because of my conflicted feelings on the matter.
I wrote you because I wanted to know what God thinks of this matter. God has an answer and reasoning for everything and I'm certain the Holy Spirit can convey the best answer to give to this topic. I want to stand for what is godly right in everything I do, and award ceremonies should be something to consider.
Thank you for all of the work that you do for God! May God continue to bless you and the La Vista church of Christ.
Answer:
That someone wishes to recognize the efforts of another person is not wrong. After all, in the parable of the talents, the master rewarded the servants based on their productivity (Matthew 25:19-23). Where it becomes wrong is when we make it our aim to be rewarded. "Let another man praise you, and not your own mouth; a stranger, and not your own lips" (Proverbs 27:2).
Consider the advice Jesus gave when attending a dinner party: "When you are invited by anyone to a wedding feast, do not sit down in the best place, lest one more honorable than you be invited by him; and he who invited you and him come and say to you, 'Give place to this man,' and then you begin with shame to take the lowest place. But when you are invited, go and sit down in the lowest place, so that when he who invited you comes he may say to you, 'Friend, go up higher.' Then you will have glory in the presence of those who sit at the table with you" (Luke 14:8-10). To be honored by recognition was not wrong, but you should not be angling for recognition from people.
Response:
That makes sense. Thank you very much!
