Paul writes in Philippians that he desires to send Timothy and Epaphroditus to them (Philippians 2:19-30). In their qualifications, he lists four things (my paraphrase):
Faithfulness Godliness
Serving
Caring In summary: they had proven character. He didn't list how big their churches were,
talented they were (in any aspect of ministry),
how funny they were,
creative they were,
or anything else. He spoke of their faithfulness and godliness. Paul told them to honor such men. But don’t we so often choose to honor people based off of other things? If Paul were here today he would tell us the same: Strive for faithfulness.
Pursue Godly character.
Seek ways to serve others.
Always be caring. And seek to honor those who do these things. How can you live out these character traits today? And how can you encourage and lift of someone else who is displaying them well?