What Quality Should We Most Admire in People?

When we are young, we usually admire people for external qualities. But there’s a quality we should really admire in people and develop in ourselves. What is that quality?

Have you ever had a celebrity crush? Most girls, especially teens, tend to admire famous people. So we often buy clothes, notebooks, posters, pictures and anything else that features those singers, musicians or actors.

We can find ourselves being such extreme fans that we start to idolize them, and even get to the point of thinking they are “perfect” (read it with a love sigh). Of course this feeling eventually fades away as we grow older and move on to other things.  

But have we ever stopped to think about why we admire celebrities? It’s usually because of a skill they have or their physical appearance, not necessarily their character. We may not really stop to consider what kind of people they are when the cameras are off.

We shouldn’t admire people based on just their skills or looks. The Bible says we should admire people who live their lives the right way (3 John 1:11).

Let’s consider one of the major characteristics we should look for in people we admire.

The quality of service

One of the major qualities we should admire in people is their example of service.

But what about us? Do we serve? Do people see and admire us for our service toward others?

Service is a virtue that we can all develop (although it may come easier for some than others). The more we serve, the easier it will become to serve. Eventually, when we are asked to assist with something, we’ll do it, not just because we were asked to, but because we genuinely want to.

Serving others is a way to serve God, especially when we serve His people (Matthew 25:45). Serving God isn’t something that only ministers, deacons and speakers are entrusted to do, but something all of us should do whenever we can. We can do it by encouraging or advising someone in the right way, or lending a hand in an activity that we are asked to help out with. It’s not necessary to be ordained or “in charge” when it comes to serving. Pleasing God and helping others should be our primary motivations to serve.

As young people, we can take advantage of every opportunity given to us to serve others instead of staying in our comfort zone thinking, “Someone else will do it.”  

Serve out of love

Serving others is a demonstration of love. Have we ever asked ourselves how much the kitchen staff at camp must love us to go through all the work of cooking for us campers? Their example of service is an example we should admire and imitate. This is one of the up close examples that we see year after year. Of course, there are many more examples in the Church, as well as in the Bible.

In His Word, God tells us that we should imitate what is good and continually work on doing it. We can’t just sit back and admire someone, thinking: “I would love to be like them … someday.” We should take action and try to imitate the godly virtues we see in others.

Our admiration for celebrities should be small in comparison to our admiration for those who continually seek to obey God, despite making mistakes.

Let’s strive to be the type of people we admire in the Church. Let’s start now so that, in a not too distant future, we ourselves can be an example to someone else.

To learn more about service, read “What Is God’s Will for Me?”

Jenifer Zamora attends the Santiago, Chile congregation of the Church of God, a Worldwide Association.