{"id":58191,"date":"2023-01-21T10:34:30","date_gmt":"2023-01-21T16:34:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/?p=58191"},"modified":"2023-01-21T10:36:04","modified_gmt":"2023-01-21T16:36:04","slug":"what-if-someone-has-no-good-qualities","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/what-if-someone-has-no-good-qualities\/","title":{"rendered":"What if someone has no good qualities?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n\t<h2>Question:<\/h2>\n<p>Hi Jeff,<\/p>\n<p>I was looking again over your sermon &#8220;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/ten-rules-for-improving-the-church\/\">Ten Rules for Improving the Church<\/a>,&#8221; and one point states:<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>&#8220;Consciously look for the good qualities in every brother or sister in Christ. When you think of a brother or sister, make a mental note of the good points each possesses.&#8221;<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>I had an individual ask me: &#8220;What if there are some people who have no good qualities?&#8221; I had no idea how to answer that and was wondering if you have any thoughts on that. I also should add that the individual who asked me this has his own share of issues with a few individuals at the church where he is attending. From what I know about that, both he and the individuals he is having problems with have things they could improve on to help the situation.<\/p>\n\t<h2>Answer:<\/h2>\n<p>No one, except God, is totally good. We all have flaws and we all make mistakes (Romans 3:9-18). But too often we fixate on only the bad things others do. We forget that the opposite is also true: no one is totally bad.<\/p>\n<p>The exercise is to teach us to have a balanced view of other people. It is only with a balanced view that we are able to offer mercy to others (Luke 6:36) and show love to our enemies (Luke 6:35).<\/p>\n<p>When someone says that another person has no good qualities, then you know the problem is with the person who refuses to see the good in other people. He is unable to make righteous judgments because he is noting only a portion of the truth (John 7:24). See <a href=\"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/righteous-judgment-2\/\">Righteous Judgment<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Question: Hi Jeff, I was looking again over your sermon &#8220;Ten Rules for Improving the Church,&#8221; and one point states: &#8220;Consciously look for the good qualities in every brother or sister in Christ. When you think of a brother or sister, make a mental note of the good points each possesses.&#8221; I had an individual&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"jetpack_seo_schema_type":"","footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[20],"tags":[919,1452],"class_list":["post-58191","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-answer","tag-brotherly-love","tag-perspective"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":66832,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/ten-facts-about-local-congregations\/","url_meta":{"origin":58191,"position":0},"title":"Ten Facts About Local Congregations","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"February 29, 2024","format":false,"excerpt":"by Gardner Hall Ten facts about local congregations today: taken from the letters to the seven churches (Revelation 2,3). Christ knows their works! Most congregations have a mixture of good qualities and weaknesses. Christ considers some congregations in bad spiritual shape to be his still. Even though we might not\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Article&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":51467,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/is-it-reasonable-to-ask-the-church-to-fund-projects-that-are-not-sustainable\/","url_meta":{"origin":58191,"position":1},"title":"Is it reasonable to ask the church to fund projects that are not sustainable?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"September 23, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Good afternoon, Brother Hamilton: You were very kind to answer a question for me a few years back, and your answer gave me such clarity. I'll be ever-grateful for your guidance. I have another question with which I'm struggling. It regards funding for church-related projects. Our elders have established\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Answer&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":67345,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/one-reason-congregations-fail\/","url_meta":{"origin":58191,"position":2},"title":"One Reason Congregations Fail","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"April 6, 2024","format":false,"excerpt":"by Perry Hall Why are congregations failing? If one answer can be given, groups rely on man's wisdom rather than God's. An example of this faulty thinking is found in the eldership. A common model for choosing elders and how these elders \"rule\" is the business model. The misaligned thinking\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Article&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":91227,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/we-have-some-questions-on-church-discipline\/","url_meta":{"origin":58191,"position":3},"title":"We have some questions on church discipline","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"October 13, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Hello brother Jeffrey, I trust you have been in good health this while, and your family too. I am happy to reach out to you after some time has passed. I delivered a teaching on I Corinthians 5, which deals with church discipline over ongoing sin. This teaching aroused\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Answer&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":96210,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/are-church-owned-schools-and-hospitals-good-works\/","url_meta":{"origin":58191,"position":4},"title":"Are church owned schools and hospitals good works?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"June 20, 2026","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Good day, minister. In a Bible study, we were talking about Christianity and good works. The teacher emphasized that good works do not leave out the church building, schools, and hospitals. I've heard a contrasting teaching elsewhere. But the way the teacher put it just offers a new perspective.\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Answer&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":42641,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/is-there-anything-wrong-with-a-sister-in-christ-helping-a-fellow-christian-fallen-on-hard-times\/","url_meta":{"origin":58191,"position":5},"title":"Is there anything wrong with a sister in Christ helping a fellow Christian fallen on hard times?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"April 26, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Hi Brother Hamilton, I have a question that concerns the aiding of a brother or sister in Christ.\u00a0 If there is a member of the congregation who has fallen on hard times (financial chaos, or removal due to an abusive relationship), and a female member of the church has\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Answer&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/58191","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=58191"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/58191\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=58191"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=58191"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=58191"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}