{"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_post_was_ever_published":false,"footnotes":""},"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_featured_media_url":"","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":91227,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/we-have-some-questions-on-church-discipline\/","url_meta":{"origin":58191,"position":1},"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":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":2},"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":[]},{"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":3},"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":16783,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wouldnt-a-new-testament-church-realize-that-we-are-our-brothers-keepers\/","url_meta":{"origin":58191,"position":4},"title":"Wouldn&#8217;t a New Testament church realize that we are our brothers&#8217; keepers?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"November 6, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: On\u00a0the home page, it says that you really don't participate in community activities, fundraisers, home missions, or anything like that, in the way I interpreted it anyway. Wouldn't a New Testament church realize that we are our brothers' keepers? And that James said faith without works is dead? I\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":55637,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/i-found-out-there-is-a-lot-of-sexual-misconduct-happening-among-the-leaders-of-the-church-i-attend\/","url_meta":{"origin":58191,"position":5},"title":"I found out there is a lot of sexual misconduct happening among the leaders of the church I attend","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"November 9, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Hello, Jeffrey, I hope you're doing well. There is a lot going on in my congregation which is given me cause for concern. My elder brother is cohabiting with a lady who he intends to marry and the lady is not a Christian. My sister told the minister privately\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":[]}],"_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}]}}