Wednesday 25 January 2012

The Paradoxical Commandments

People are often unreasonable, illogical and self-centered; Forgive them anyway.
If you are kind, people may accuse you of selfish, ulterior motives; Be kind anyway.
If you are successful, you will win some false friends and some true enemies; Succeed anyway.
If you are honest and frank, people may cheat you; Be honest and frank anyway.
What you spend years building, someone could destroy overnight; Build anyway.
If you find serenity and happiness, they may be jealous; Be happy anyway.
The good you do today, people will often forget tomorrow; Do good anyway.
Give the world the best you have, and it may never be enough; Give the world the best you've got anyway.

This gets to the heart of true Christian living.  It is a reversal of all that's natural to us.  This goes right against the grain. It shows that the mathematics of grace simply do not add up to what we would expect to be a good result.

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