Strategies for Growth

Learn to be more flexible 

"I have become all things to all people so that by all possible means I might save some." 1 Corinthians 9:22 NIV 

Your principles should be set in concrete, but not your methods. Never stop asking, "Is there a better way?" Knowledge in most fields is doubling every five years, so any program that old should be brought in for an examination, an overhaul, and possibly the last rites! 

As talented as Henry Ford was, he had poor people skills. He believed the Model T ended the need for any other car. When people started saying to him, "We’d like a different color," he answered, "You can have any color you want, as long as it’s black!" And that’s when his business began to decline. 

If what you’re doing isn’t working, you can: 1) look for somebody or something to blame; 2) rationalize, so that you can live with it more easily; 3) find comfort in the fact that others are in the same boat; 4) be willing to change. 

In the film Five Easy Pieces, Jack Nicholson goes into a restaurant and asks for a side order of toast. When he’s told it’s not on the menu, he comes up with a creative solution. He orders chicken salad on toast, then instructs the waitress, "No mayonnaise, just butter and hold the chicken salad." 

If you’re too rigid, you’ll break (or go broke). Paul’s great success can be summed up in one verse: "I have become all things to all people so that by all possible means I might save some" (1 Corinthians 9:22 NIV). Learn to be more flexible!

Prayer point: 

Lord, please help me to know if it is my principles that are at stake, or merely my preferences. When it’s my preferences that are being challenged, help me to have a flexible heart that is willing to listen and consider the opinions of others, and maybe learn new ways of doing things. Help me not to always need "the last word" on a subject.