There are some things that never be compromised. Your integrity for one. Your relationship with your family is another. The Word of God should never be compromised. We could quickly list many more, but we should not think that we should never compromise.
America is currently experiencing a partial shutdown of our government. "Non-essential" employees are laid off. Others are working but without pay. I cannot think of a good reason why members of the Coast Guard and TSA workers are not being paid. I can only chalk it up to poor planning by the House and Senate when they identified who would and who would not get paid during a shutdown. If anyone should not get paid it's those in the House and Senate. Take away their salaries and I can almost guarantee you there would be very few government shutdowns. Of course, that won't happen because the people we elect to represent us only represent themselves and their lobbyists who keep the money rolling in.
Democrats blame President Trump for the shutdown, and the Republicans blame the Democrats. The president stands firm that the American people want the wall built which is one reason he was elected. The House and Senate Democrats insist the wall would not be effective even though just a few years ago they approved spending far more to build such a wall that is currently being requested. The blame game goes on as both sides point fingers of blame at the other while refusing to budge. All the while, Americans are not getting paychecks while the wealthiest among us have their little tantrum.
There have been reports from some within the White House that the president might be willing to compromise, but we've heard no details of what that might look like. There really hasn't been any reason for details to come out since Schumer and Pelosi have flat out said there will be no wall. Obviously, a compromise only works if both sides are willing to give up a little, but if one side isn't willing to budge there can be no compromise. If those reports from the White House are true then I have to put most of the blame for this shutdown on Congressional leadership for their refusal to work for an agreement that would put government workers back to work. As I wrote recently, this nation suffers when political parties refuse to do anything that might seem like a "win" for the other side.
Any time one side takes an "all or nothing" approach to any disagreement there will be little movement forward. It's true in government, it's true in business, and it's true in churches. I've seen parties in churches just as adamant on issues as we're now seeing in Washington. One side wants to do one thing, and the other side firmly opposes it, and neither side is willing to sit down and work out a compromise.
A pastor suggested changing the structure of the church to help it move forward with fewer roadblocks. A minority in the church opposed the change, but they opposed it so strongly that the majority would not oppose them. The church remained stuck in old ways of doing things that were no longer effective. A new pastor came along, suggested a very similar change, and this time it was approved.
What made the difference? Rather than making the change permanent the second pastor recommended trying it for a couple of years and then voting on whether to make it permanent or not. The church was willing to try it out and then decide rather than voting to make an immediate change. When the trial ended the church recognized the new structure was much more effective and voted to make it permanent. This second pastor and those resistant to the change were each willing to compromise to test it out. As a result, the church now operates much more smoothly and is enjoying an effective ministry in its community.
Although there are some things in life that are non-negotiable, leaders should not be afraid to compromise on everything else. Sometimes a little compromise will get you what you want without costing you more than it is worth. I wish our government "leadership" would learn that lesson.
No comments:
Post a Comment