To make something good happen, you need two things: good motives and lots of determination

To make something bad happen, you need two things: bad motives and lots of determination.

To make anything at all happen, you’ll want determination (perseverance, persistence, toughness)

Jesus told a story about this. It’s the Gospel reading in traditional Catholic churches for today.

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Jesus said to his disciples: A certain rich man had a steward who was accused of having wasted his property. He called him and said, “What is this I hear about you? You cannot be my steward any longer.” The steward said to himself, “What can I do, now that my Master has taken away the stewardship? Dig? No, I am not capable. Go begging? I would be too ashamed. I know what I will do, so that when removed from the stewardship, there will be people willing to welcome me into their houses . . . .” He called in his master’s debtors, one by one. To the first he said: “How much do you owe my master?” He answered: “A hundred barrels of oil.” The steward said: “Take your bill now and write fifty. To another he said, “How much do you owe?” “One hundred measures of wheat.” To this one he said: “Take your bill, and write eighty.” And the master commended the dishonest steward for his astuteness . . . for the children of this world are wiser in dealing with their own kind than are the children of light.  (St Luke’s Gospel, chapter 16)

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So does God want us to be like the world’s wheelers and dealers – and the power-mongers of party politics?

Yes, he does in a way. 

He urges us to copy their astuteness, their shrewdness, their smartness, their focus . . . but NOT their hatred for rivals, their self-absorption, their greed, their lust for power, their lying, their contempt for those whom they pretend to serve . . . .

We will please God and create a better world only when we who claim to be Christians — and to be motivated by love — make ourselves more astute, more shrewd, more determined, smarter and more focussed than those who are haters.