How to deal with stubborn and resistant people

Humanity has been full of folks who are stubborn and resistant. This is not new. As long as there have been humans, there has been stubbornness and resistance. As long as there are humans, those things will exist. We aren’t going to eliminate stubbornness and resistance. We can’t make it go away by just being nice to people in the hopes that they will change. We can’t make it go away by trying to eliminate all the stubborn and resistant people either.

So the question is — what do we do? How do you proceed when you encounter someone who is stubborn and resistant?

First, let’s acknowledge something unpleasant — Stubborn and resistant people include you and I as well. We don’t like to consider ourselves stubborn and resistant, but I’m willing to bet that you have been those things. I know I have plenty of times. This means that stubborn and resistant people aren’t bad or evil, just as you and I are not evil just because we have been stubborn and resistant.

People are complicated and their lives are messy. There are many reasons why someone becomes stubborn and resistant. Maybe someone broke their trust with that person. Maybe they screwed over on something. Maybe they suffered a loss. Maybe they live in fear. Who knows. It helps us to see the image of God in stubborn and resistant people. It humanizes the person and allows us to see their humanity and how connected we are to them. It changes us. It allows us to see that fighting the stubbornness and resistance is not the goal. You…