We are on the edge of a new year – and a new decade.  We have been in the 21st century for ten years.  How about that!  Seems like just yesterday we were worried about whether or not our computers would make it into the new century.  I was reading an article last week in Newsweek entitled “The Decade From Hell”.  The article lists, year by year, all the bad, tragic, and unsettling things that have happened since the year 2000.
It really has been quite a decade!  Things like 9/11 and Hurricane Katrina and wars everywhere and on and on and on.  It was pretty depressing to read – I wasn’t at all sure that I really wanted to be reminded of all that again.  After all, I lived through it.
     The world is a crazy place.  So perhaps it’s no wonder that each of us acts a little crazy now and then.  You see it all around you – once in a while people just lose it.  It’s probably a wonder that we are as relatively sane as we are.
    But, just because the world is crazy a lot of the time doesn’t mean that you have to be crazy as well.  You can choose not to be crazy.  That is the philosophy of a man named Kent M. Keith who is credited with writing the poem you will see printed on an insert in your bulletin.  It is most often known as Mother Teresa’s prayer because it can be found on a plaque right inside the door of her orphanage in Calcutta.  But Mr. Keith says that he is the original author and that he is thrilled that someone like Mother Teresa would make

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use of his poem in such a way.  I want to spend just a little time looking at each of these commandments – the author calls them the paradoxical commandments – and see how each of them might fit into our lives in the new year and also see how they correspond to scripture.
     The first commandment is this:
PEOPLE ARE ILLOGICAL, UNREASONABLE AND SELF-CENTERED.  LOVE THEM ANYWAY.
Psychologists and sociologists will say that love is one of the things that people need most in order to have a happy and satisfying life.  And,in lots of cases, love is easy to give because lots of people are profoundly loving and when we show affection to them they return it to us.  But what about the people who are just so difficult to love?  How do we handle them?   Perhaps by realizing that love and like are not the same thing.  Love means that you would never do anything to hurt another person because that person is a child of God and deserves that love.  It is not the same as liking.  When you like people you invite them to your home for your birthday party and you may even share some of your deepest secrets with the ones you trust.  And, let’s face it.  Love cannot really be based on what is deserved or not deserved.  It’s a good thing for you and me that God doesn’t think that way.  As Paul wrote to the church in Rome:
GOD DEMONSTRATES HIS OWN LOVE FOR US IN THIS:  WHILE WE WERE STILL SINNERS, CHRIST DIED FOR US.  (ROMANS 5:8)

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Love even the difficult people.  They will never be your best friends.  But they are children of God.  It’s hard to do, but it is what God expects.
    #2 is:
IF YOU DO GOOD, PEOPLE WILL ACCUSE OF SELFISH ULTERIOR MOTIVES.  DO GOOD ANYWAY.
The flip side of this is if you are doing good only to get recognition for what an outstanding person you are, keep on doing good and wear a disguise.  Unfortunately there are people in the world who have become so cynical about pretty much everything that they can’t imagine that anyone else would be capable of doing something good without expecting reward for it.  These are sad people.  So go ahead and do good and spend very little time wondering how others are viewing you for doing it.  Do it because God expects you to.  Do it because there is a place inside you that truly wants to try to make life better for those who are suffering.  Do it out of love for people.  Do it as the hands and feet of Jesus in the world.  The writer of I Peter reminds us:
IF ANYONE SPEAKS HE SHOULD DO IT AS ONE SPEAKING THE VERY WORDS OF GOD.  IF ANYONE SERVES, HE SHOULD DO IT WITH THE STRENGTH GOD PROVIDES, SO THAT IN ALL THINGS GOD MAY BE PRAISED THROUGH JESUS CHRIST.  (I PETER 4:11)
     Paradoxical commandment #3 is:
IF YOU ARE SUCCESSFUL, YOU WILL WIN FALSE FRIENDS AND TRUE ENEMIES.  SUCCEED ANYWAY.

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Kent Keith says that when you are successful you learn that you have two kinds of friends.  The first is a personal friend who can always be trusted.  The second is a positional friend.  This person is not really your friend; this person is a friend of your position, your power, your influence.  When those things are gone, those “friends” will be gone as well.  We are wise when we are able to see the difference in these two types of friends and expect from each of them exactly as much as they will be willing to give.
And, of course, if you are successful, you will make enemies.  Someone else wanted your position but you got it instead.  Some people are jealous of anyone who succeeds at anything and will look for opportunities to embarrass anyone who has achieved success.  Again, we are wise to know who these people are.  Over the years I have seen this in the clergy.  Someone will receive an appointment to one of the really choice churches and others who felt they should have had that appointment will grumble and gripe for a while, perhaps even going so far as to voice reasons why the person so appointed will fail.  I think this paradoxical commandment reminds us best of these words of Jesus as he sent his disciples out to work:
I AM SENDING YOU OUT LIKE SHEEP AMONG WOLVES.  THEREFORE BE AS SHREWD AS SNAKES AND AS INNOCENT AS DOVES.  (MATTH 10:16)
     #4:
THE GOOD YOU DO TODAY MAY BE FORGOTTEN TOMORROW.  DO GOOD ANYWAY.

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My mother was an excellent seamstress.  One of the things she liked to do was to sew up costumes for programs at school and church.  She sewed them for me and my sister and also for other children who didn’t have anyone to help them.  People always raved about the quality of my mother’s work.  I have heard people say things to her like this, “It’s only a costume for a program.  It will only be worn for a short amount of time.  It doesn’t have to be perfect.  If the seams aren’t completely straight or the color of the thread doesn’t match exactly, no one will know and no one will care.”  My mother would often say in answer, “I will know and I will most certainly care.”  This has influenced my way of living.  I try to remember when I am doing something that it is important to do it the best I can.  It is also that way with intercessory prayer, which is one of the least selfish things we can do for someone else.  They never even have to know that you prayed for them unless you tell them.  Pray for them anyway.  Let it be between you and God.
    #5:
HONESTY AND FRANKNESS MAKE YOU VULNERABLE.  BE HONEST AND FRANK ANYWAY.
It is so much easier to tell the truth to begin with than to create a huge web of lies that have to be supported by more lies and then those have to be supported by yet more lies, and on and on.  And you have to remember all those lies.  Lots of work!  We recently watched the movie “Four Christmases”.  One of the really funny lines in that was “You can’t have families without lies.”  Get it?  The stars in this movie had lied so much to their family members so that they wouldn’t have to visit them at the holidays, that

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it had become a joke.  When they began to be honest and truthful with their parents and siblings, they found that they weren’t really such terrible people.  They were strange, like most families are, but not really bad people.  And honesty from one person can create honesty from another and maybe eventually we even get to know each other a little bit better.  Sure, it means you have to reveal some things about yourself that you aren’t too crazy about.  But that’s what honesty is all about in the first place.  Jesus highly commends us to this idea:
YOU SHALL KNOW THE TRUTH, AND THE TRUTH WILL SET YOU FREE.  (JOHN 8:32)
    Commandment #6:
THE BIGGEST MEN AND WOMEN WITH THE BIGGEST IDEAS CAN BE SHOT DOWN BY THE SMALLEST MEN AND WOMEN WITH THE SMALLEST IDEAS.  THINK BIG ANYWAY.
We have all heard the stories of great inventions throughout history whose creation brought only abuse and humiliation to their inventors.  People like Thomas Edison and Alexander Graham Bell and the Wright brothers had huge ideas for their time.  They dreamed really big dreams and then they went to work to make their dreams reality.  People who didn’t share the dream, people who were afraid of change, would laugh at these inventors and tell them how foolish they were!  Electricity!  What a silly idea!  A device that would allow one person in one place to speak with someone miles away!  Impossible!  Flight!  How ridiculous!  Fortunately for us, these inventors did not

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allow themselves to be blockaded in their ideas.  They went ahead with their big dreams, their big thoughts, and they succeeded.  Moses and Jesus and the apostle Paul – all men with huge ideas.  Free thousands of people from slavery.  Change the way the world views God.  Take the words of the Savior to people everywhere.  Big ideas.  Praise be to God that they fulfilled those ideas.   Praise to God for inspiring such ideas in the first place.
     #7:
PEOPLE FAVOR UNDERDOGS, BUT ONLY FOLLOW TOP DOGS.  FIGHT FOR UNDERDOGS ANYWAY.
This does not mean that every underdog is always right.  But sometimes they are right and sometimes they need the kind of help you can give.  And, let’s be honest.  Isn’t there something fulfilling about helping someone who is going to lose but deserves to win?  Many people of his day considered the apostle Paul to be weak, at least physically.  He was not an imposing man to look at.  But he finds glory in his weakness.  As he writes to the Corinthian church:
(THE LORD SAID TO ME)  “MY GRACE IS SUFFICIENT FOR YOU, FOR MY POWER IS MADE PERFECT IN WEAKNESS.”  (2 COR. 12:9)
Jesus looked like the weakest man in the world when he was dying on the cross.  But, in fact, he was the strongest.  He was giving his life for you and me.   How strong was that!
 

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COMMANDMENT #8 - WHAT YOU SPEND YEARS BUILDING MAY BE DESTROYED OVERNIGHT.  BUILD ANYWAY.
Huge, beautiful buildings are being built every day.  They look indestructible.  But even buildings like the World Trade Center towers can fall.  It doesn’t mean we shouldn’t build – it just means we must be careful what we build and how we build it.  Jesus knew this and this is why he spoke these words to Simon Peter:
AND I TELL YOU THAT YOU ARE PETER AND ON THIS ROCK I WILL BUILD MY CHURCH.  (MATTH. 16:18)
Jesus knew that He could put the future of the church in Peter’s hands.  He would put all his hopes and dreams in Peter’s ability to spread the Gospel.  He built well and he was not disappointed.
  #9 – PEOPLE REALLY NEED HELP BUT MAY ATTACK YOU IF YOU DO HELP THEM – HELP PEOPLE ANYWAY.
Hopefully , when you or I reach out to help someone else, we are not doing it to receive glory or praise.  The only reason to help someone is because you really want to help them.  And if they show gratitude, that’s fine.  If, for whatever reason they don’t, do not allow that to keep you from doing something to help later on when an opportunity presents itself.  Do it because it is what Jesus expects of you.  Paul wrote to the Galatians:
BEAR ONE ANOTHER’S BURDENS, AND IN THIS WAY YOU WILL FULFILL THE LAW OF CHRIST.  (GAL. 6:2)

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And #10 – GIVE THE WORLD THE BEST YOU HAVE AND YOU’LL GET KICKED IN THE TEETH.  GIVE THE WORLD THE BEST YOU HAVE ANYWAY.
Some people would say that there’s a good chance you’ll get kicked in the teeth whether you give your best or not.  That’s the way the world is.  Even if that’s the way you see it, do your best anyway.  Jesus said it this way:
IN THIS WORLD YOU WILL HAVE TROUBLE.  BUT TAKE HEART; I HAVE OVERCOME THE WORLD!  (JOHN 16:33)
And there are the ten paradoxical commandments.  Think about them.  It’s a good way to start the new year. 
    I have an “anyway” story to share with you in closing.  When we lived in Springfield, Missouri, I worked during the holiday season with a social services agency in the city, taking applications from families who would need some help with food and gifts for children during Christmas time.  I was taking an application one day from a lovely young woman with a heavy accent, probably eastern European.  She had with her a little skinny boy with huge eyes, wearing a raggedy coat and hat.  She told me that she also had a little baby, just a few months old, at home.  She was struggling to keep her head above water and needed some help with Christmas presents for the kids.  I asked the head of the agency if I could “adopt” this family for Christmas, to take care of buying things for them.  She agreed and so I went shopping a few days later and bought things for the little boy and the baby and for the young mother.  I also went to the grocery store and got them the things needed for a wonderful Christmas dinner.  I wrapped the things up and Bruce

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and I took them to the address we had been given.  We pulled up in front of a small home, obviously new, in a clean and well-kept neighborhood.  I went to the door and saw a huge Christmas tree in the middle of the living room, with piles of gifts underneath.  The young woman came to greet me and Bruce and I took the things into the house.  The little boy was there too and so was the baby.  The home had what looked like new furniture and one room was full of all kinds of stereo and computer equipment.  It was not what I expected, to say the least.  We wished them a merry Christmas and left.  I was unsure what to think of all this.  Bruce asked me how I felt about all this.  I am still to this day not sure what happened there.  But I am still glad I did what I did.  I did it because I felt that this was a family in need at Christmas.  Whether they were really in need or not, I cannot be sure.  But I helped.  I helped them – ANYWAY.