It’s Non-Negotiable

For those of us who are sports fans, things are looking bleak for the upcoming 2011-2012 season.  As I’m sure you are aware, both the NFL and NBA are currently involved in lockouts.  The dispute?  Disagreements between owners and players on how to equitably divide revenues, of course.

The NFL, now entering its fifth month of lockout, appears close to a compromise.  It must reach one by July 15 to avoid delays in preseason games, scheduled to begin in August. Although revenues topped 9 billion in 2010, owners claim decreasing profitability due to exponential increases in player salaries and benefits the last few years.  

Owners want to lower the percent of revenues that go to players and expand the season from 16 to 18 games.  Players reject both proposals stating increased injury risk and short average career life.  They also want more transparency in team financial accounting, which owners are resisting.

The situation is even more complex in the NBA.  The 2010-2011 season was one of the best yet with 4.3 billion in revenues, but average annual player salaries rose from 5 to 7 million in the last few years.  Accounting practices are more open in the NBA, and despite healthy revenues, 22 of the NBA’s 30 teams finished last season in the red.  Players blame owners for poor decision making, while owners claim the financials clearly point to the need for basic economic restructuring in the NBA, a herculean task.

In both the NFL and NBA, failure to reach an agreement will have serious financial consequences for both owners and players, so why do settlements always go to the brink of mutual disaster before they can strike a compromise?

As human beings, we seem to have a basic distrust of one another when our interests come into conflict.  Our fear blinds us to the perspectives and needs of the other side.  We feel our survival is threatened, and cling rigidly to our non-negotiable position, until we reach that brink of disaster and are forced into a mutual compromise.  We settle for less than we wanted comforted by the fact that the other side settled for less too.

This basic fear makes us suspicious of God, when He offers us a non-negotiable contract that looks too good to be true.  He tells us that He wants to supply all our needs according to His riches in glory in Christ Jesus (Philippians 4:19).  He then goes on to explain that these riches are immeasurable, far beyond anything we can think or conceive in our wildest imaginations! (Ephesians 3:20a)  

Jesus knew this offer would be hard for us to accept, so he told a story to illustrate how God operates.  An employer hired some laborers at the beginning of the day to work.  They carefully negotiated the rate of a denarius, a fair day’s wage at that time.  At the end of the day he hired more workers for an hour and promised to pay them what was right.  They didn’t negotiate, but trusted the employer and went to work.  In the end the employer paid the last workers a full denarius too, which they certainly weren’t expecting! (Matthew 20:1-16)

Jesus was telling us we don’t have to negotiate with God.  God is not an owner trying to maximize His profits, but our loving Father who has an unlimited supply.  Say “yes” to God’s non-negotiable contract and let Him abundantly bless you!

Come join us this Sunday at 9:00 AM or 11:00 AM and hear our guest speaker Becca Greenwood discuss how God reveals His actions with us through the office of the prophet.