Good day, sir,<\/p>\n
I’m a bit frustrated. I don’t hear from the people of the church, even before I took a job that has me traveling for months at a time. All I ever have to keep me going in the faith is the Bible. I don’t want to give up on God just because people don’t check up on me.<\/p>\n\t
Over the years, I have noticed a strong tendency for people to complain about the very things that they do. The person who complains that the church is inhospitable never has people over to his house and declines invitations to come and share a dinner. The person who complains that the church is unloving never stays around after services to talk to people but dashes out the door, and you don’t hear from them again until the next time they come.<\/p>\n
Paul mentions this tendency, “Therefore you have no excuse, everyone of you who passes judgment, for in that which you judge another, you condemn yourself; for you who judge practice the same things<\/em>” (Romans 2:1). Whenever I have a complaint about others, I try to remember to consider whether I’m contributing to the problem or solving the problem.<\/p>\n So, my question for you is: How often do you write to brethren and tell them how you miss them and what you remember best about them? Communication is a two-way street. My mother-in-law recently passed away, but what everyone remembered about her were the personal cards she would send. Even when she was frail and could not get out, she would write cards. Those cards always contained messages about what she appreciated about them. She would send the preachers cards telling them what a good lesson they had presented. She would send cards to tell someone she noticed being particularly kind to a child that they were a great mother. What made them special was that she meant what she said.<\/p>\n If you want people to remember you, remember their special traits. If you want people to send notes to you, send notes to them about what you like about them.<\/p>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Question: Good day, sir, I’m a bit frustrated. I don’t hear from the people of the church, even before I took a job that has me traveling for months at a time. All I ever have to keep me going in the faith is the Bible. I don’t want to give up on God just…<\/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":[579,1513],"class_list":["post-82817","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-answer","tag-friendship","tag-relationships"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":24463,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/why-do-some-people-accept-the-gospel-but-others-reject-it\/","url_meta":{"origin":82817,"position":0},"title":"Why do some people accept the gospel but others reject it?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"September 9, 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: My son had a question I am not sure how to answer.\u00a0 The question is:\u00a0Why is it that some people respond to the hearing of the gospel by accepting the gospel, and others respond by rejecting it?\" It is the same Holy Spirit that will convict of sin, righteousness,\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":46938,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/is-it-wrong-to-indulge-in-food-and-drink-at-worship\/","url_meta":{"origin":82817,"position":1},"title":"Is it wrong to indulge in food and drink at worship?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"January 18, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Is it wrong for members of the church to indulge in food and drink while worship is happening? We have this problem, and I need an answer with Scripture, please. Thank you. Answer: I've noticed that people like to make rules instead of citing the Scriptures. It is that\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":42023,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/why-do-i-have-a-knack-for-noticing-peoples-emotions-and-helping-them-calm-down\/","url_meta":{"origin":82817,"position":2},"title":"Why do I have a knack for noticing people’s emotions and helping them calm down?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"March 1, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Hello! I read\u00a0an answer to an \"empath\" question. This has sparked another question within me. I have been a Christian and a member of the church of Christ for several years; however, I have a dilemma. I have always been able to \"read emotions\" and when I am around\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":42574,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/is-it-bad-that-most-members-in-our-church-were-raised-in-the-church\/","url_meta":{"origin":82817,"position":3},"title":"Is it bad that most members in our church were raised in the church?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"April 17, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Dear Mr. Hamilton, I've been emphasizing how important truth is in the Bible to one of my friends. She has been very receptive to the truths I've shown her in God's Word. I've taken her to the church I attend and she enjoys it but she says it's not\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":17060,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/you-dont-understand-the-catholic-churchs-teachings\/","url_meta":{"origin":82817,"position":4},"title":"You don’t understand the Catholic Church’s teachings","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"December 16, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: I happened on your web site via a friend and read\u00a0the response given to a gentleman about marrying a Catholic woman.\u00a0 I suggest that you click on to\u00a0www.catholic.com\u00a0and search for the correct answers about \u201cLimbo\u201d and \u201cAnnulments in the Catholic Church\u201d. 99% of the people who are not Catholic\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":50532,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/i-dont-go-there\/","url_meta":{"origin":82817,"position":5},"title":"I Don\u2019t Go There","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"July 23, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"by Jefferson David Tant People use many devices to mitigate or cancel out plain Bible teaching. This ancient practice can be traced to the Old Testament. Seven hundred years before Christ, Isaiah was dealing with a rebellious people. God told him: \"Now go, write it on a tablet before them\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/07\/hear-no-evil-300x168.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/82817","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=82817"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/82817\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=82817"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=82817"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=82817"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}