There was a time when I would have said one earns praise, but the world is a fickle place and even if you do something wonderful for others often good people slip through the cracks and they never...
It means if some one looks up to you, or praises you, that the man speaking will praise or look up to the other person looking up to you. Person (A) Person who looks up to you Person (B) Speaking man...
It was originally recorded by The Imperials (1979) with Russ Taff singing lead. It was written by Brown Bannister and Mike Hudson. It won a Dove Award for song of the year.