Wednesday, May 27, 2009

Paradoxical Commandments?

Thirty years ago a 19 year old Harvard student first penned what he thought would be a little booklet on leadership. Since then, Dr. Kent Keith’s book Jesus Did It Anyway and specifically the paradoxical commandments it contained have been shared far and wide [WTG to Duane for sharing them with me!!!] Mother Teresa even hung them up in her home for the destitute and dying in Kolkata, India. Here they are:
  1. People are illogical, unreasonable, and self-centered. Love them anyway.
  2. If you do good, people will accuse you of selfish ulterior motives. Do good anyway.
  3. If you are successful, you will win false friends and true enemies. Succeed anyway.
  4. The good you do today will be forgotten tomorrow. Do good anyway.
  5. Honesty and frankness makes you vulnerable. Be honest and frank anyway
  6. The best men and women with the biggest ideas can be shot down by the smallest men and women with the smallest minds. Think big anyway.
  7. People favor underdogs but follow only top dogs. Fight for a few underdogs anyway.
  8. What you spend years building may be destroyed overnight. Build anyway.
  9. People really need help but may attack you if you do help them. Help people anyway.
  10. Give the world the best you have and you'll get kicked in the teeth. Give the world the best you have anyway.
Aren’t those great? Since he wrote those, I understand he added an 11th commandment based on the Old Testament prophetic book of Habakkuk. The world is full of violence, injustice, starvation, disease, and environmental destruction. Have faith anyway. Click pic to read how I used them in church last week. What's your fave paradoxical commandment?

2 comments:

Grumpy said...

That must be where the saying " No good deed goes unpunished", comes from. Thanks Mike I'm gonna put it on the 'fridge.

Mike Fortune said...

Love it. Thanks for commenting. Did 9 holes this morning with some pastor friends at a course in Blissfield MI. Really nice despite the rain!!! Had a couple good drives and a couple good putts and a couple good chips, but mostly looked like I hadn't picked up a club in 18 months!!! Golf anyway!!!