Face to Face
New York Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani met with U.S. President Donald Trump at the White House on Friday. The meeting came after months of high-profile hostilities—mostly over social media—between the two men. Mamdani is a self-described democratic socialist, a fact that has earned vociferous critic from Republicans and even some Democrats but did not deter New Yorkers from electing Mamdani amid the largest voter turnout in more than half a century. Both the President and the Mayor-elect maintain they have strenuous disagreements with each other but insist they will work together when they can find common ground.
Analysis and eternal perspective: It was somewhat surprising for the much-anticipated meeting to present more pleasantries than hostilities. For some, it was a welcome change, while others on both sides were alarmed.
The American political system, if it is to work as envisioned by our Founders, requires both open disagreement and debate as well as shared authority between conflicting viewpoints. It is a rather stark feature of the republic, and one too often overlooked, that power is distributed widely between federal, state, and local authorities—a reality that ensures significant disagreement on all manner of issues. This disagreement requires debate and cooperation even with those who hold opposing viewpoints.
It is messy. It is hard. It is also by design.
Our Founders intentionally rejected “efficient” government, as they knew firsthand the perils of efficient and consolidated power. In a very real sense, they saw around the corner to a moment like this week when the nation’s president and the mayor of the nation’s largest city would have opposite views on the most important issues of the day. They saw that reality coming, and they intentionally chose it.
We as Jesus followers should strive for civility and endeavor to love our enemies as ourselves (Matt. 5:44). It is easy to interpret that command as an admonition to avoid disagreement, but in fact we are called to embrace the refining process of weighing various perspectives (Pr. 18:17, Pr. 27:17, Pr. 11:14). Taken together, those three passages encourage us to hear both sides, to onboard a variety of counsel, and then to submit to the refining input of others.
Even after all of the above, disagreements will remain. What great confidence you can have in standing on our foundational promise here at The Equipped: “All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the servant of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work” (2 Tim. 3:16-17).
You need not shy away from differences in perspective. When all is said and done, you can stand on the final authority of God’s holy Word!
The following article originally appeared in Thann’s “The Equipped” Weekly Newsletter. For more information on Thann’s weekly email, click here.