Since 1960 there have been Australian of the Year Awards which have been handed out mainly to entertainers, sports people, and social engineers of one kind or another. The award is invariably accompanied by speeches about how this represents Australia’s growing maturity as a nation (despite all the evidence to the contrary) and how the award is not about the person who received it but the cause that he or she represents (which may be more accurate, without eliminating the element of personal vanity). 2016 saw the award go to former Lieutenant-General and Chief of Army David Morrison, who immediately and predictably called for progress and equality, which, with no need for a translation, means support for a republic, same sex marriage, and transgender rights. The Queenslander of the Year was Catherine McGregor whose main claim to fame seems to be that she was originally Malcolm McGregor before deciding that he was a woman. But these days one is whatever one claims to be – after all, he/she was a Queenslander who had not lived in Queensland for 43 years. However, she apparently supports the Maroons against the Blues, and still calls Toowoomba home. Despite Morrison’s commitment to progress, McGregor thought his selection was ‘weak and conventional’ perhaps because he had only ever been some kind of man.
But what does it mean to be Australian of the Year? Dr Ken Elliott and his wife, Jocelyn, have laboured for 43 years in Burkina Faso in West Africa, where Ken was the only surgeon available for two million people. In January they were kidnapped by Islamic militants, although Jocelyn was later released. At the time of writing, Ken’s fate remains unknown. The doctor and his wife would have surely been worthy joint-recipients of the award. A number of Christians have made just that suggestion – and with some good reason.
Yet there are difficulties. The one who receives the award of Australian of the Year either believes it or he does not. If he believes it, great harm has been done to him. If he does not, his soul may be in better shape, but he still lives a lie for a year. Back in 1952 C. S. Lewis quietly refused the offer of a CBE by the British monarchy. Amy Carmichael was even more decided in 1919 when she was included in the Royal Birthday Honours List. Her lament was: ‘It troubles me to have an experience so different from His Who was despised and rejected, not kindly honoured.’ In the light of the responses of Lewis and Carmichael, the issue becomes not just who receives a worldly award but that there is an award at all.
The Ancient Egyptian of the Year was probably not Joseph because he was a slave who later found himself in prison (Gen.37, 39). Later, it was probably not the midwives, Shiphrah and Puah, who defied the Pharaoh to save newborn Israelite baby boys (Ex.1). Jesus corrected His disciples who wanted to be great by telling them that ‘whoever would be great among you must be your servant, and whoever would be first among you must be your slave’ (Matt.20:26-27). That turns it all upside down.
A semi-secret enclave declared David Morrison to be Australian of the Year to further their own ‘progressive’ agenda, but we are what we are before God who alone can judge rightly and justly. Thomas à Kempis tells us:
You are none the holier for being praised, and none the worse for being blamed. You remain what you are, nor can you be accounted greater than you are in the sight of God … Man sees your actions, but God your motives. The sign of a humble soul is always to be doing good, and to think little of oneself. To desire no comfort from creatures is a sign of great purity and inward faith.
It is liberating, yet also frightening, to know that it is not the one who commends himself who is approved, but the one whom the Lord commends (2 Cor.10:18).