ATTITUDES FOR GODLY DEVELOPMENT: “FLEXIBILITY”

• Flexibility involves embracing and being willing to adapt.
• Change will often create between doing our will and God’s will, doing things our way and God’s way.
• About change:

• • Change is a in life.
  • Change may come .
  • Change can come at a global scale, at a national level, or to individuals.
  • Change may happen we least expect it to happen.
  • Change may happen during a when we least expect it.
  • Change does not catch God by surprise; He is sovereignly in it.
  • Christians should change. We are Christ followers.
  • God expects us, his followers, to embrace change and to be ready to or adjust in situations.

Being flexible means embracing change with the willingness and readiness to adapt, while trusting God.

• Examples when God’s people had to exercise flexibility.
  • Genesis 12:1-2 | Abram
  • Acts 16:6-10 | Paul
  • 1 Corinthians 16:6-7 | Paul
  • Jude 3 | Jude,
  • Acts 8:26-38 | Philip

• Matthew 1:18-25 18 This is how Jesus the Messiah was born. His mother, Mary, was engaged to be married to Joseph. But before the marriage took place, while she was still a virgin, she became pregnant through the power of the Holy Spirit. 19 Joseph, to whom she was engaged, was a righteous man and did not want to disgrace her publicly, so he decided to break the engagement quietly. 20 As he considered this, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream. “Joseph, son of David,” the angel said, “do not be afraid to take Mary as your wife. For the child within her was conceived by the Holy Spirit. 21 And she will have a son, and you are to name him Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.” 22 All of this occurred to fulfill the Lord’s message through his prophet: 23 “Look! The virgin will conceive a child! She will give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel, which means ‘God is with us.’” 24 When Joseph woke up, he did as the angel of the Lord commanded and took Mary as his wife. 25 But he did not have sexual relations with her until her son was born. And Joseph named him Jesus.
• Matthew 2:13-15 13 After the wise men were gone, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream. “Get up! Flee to Egypt with the child and his mother,” the angel said. “Stay there until I tell you to return, because Herod is going to search for the child to kill him.” 14 That night Joseph left for Egypt with the child and Mary, his mother, 15 and they stayed there until Herod’s death. This fulfilled what the Lord had spoken through the prophet: “I called my Son out of Egypt.”
• Joseph was adaptable and he adjusted his plans to with god’s plans.
• Someone who is flexible accepts change without .
• Flexibility begins with the desire to do God’s will and to in it, but an inflexible attitude reveals pride, insisting on doing its own will.

• Isaiah 55:8-9 8 “My thoughts are nothing like your thoughts,” says the Lord. “And my ways are far beyond anything you could imagine. 9 For just as the heavens are higher than the earth, so my ways are higher than your ways and my thoughts higher than your thoughts.

“Never be afraid to trust an unknown future to a known God.” Corrie Ten Boom

• With each change that God prompted Joseph to make, prophecies were fulfilled: Matthew 1:22-23, Matthew 2:15, Matthew 2:4-6.
• God was getting ready to do something incredible that would culminate with Jesús giving his life for the forgiveness of all sinners who repent of their sins and place their trust in Him, and it involved Mary and Joseph leaving their personal plans aside.

An attitude of flexibility before God reveals a heart of:

• Surrender to Him
• Obedience to Him
• Love for Him
• Humility before Him
• Unity with Him
• Submission to Him

• What is God calling you to?
• What is God calling you away from?

• What is your when you deal with changes, the unexpected, delays, and plans not going your way?
• Philippians 4:6 Don’t worry about anything; instead, pray about everything. Tell God what you need, and thank him for all he has done.
• In our everyday lives, it’s also important to learn to embrace change and be willing to go with a different plan or idea other than our .
• Being flexible with other people is difficult because it goes against our .
• Philippians 2:3-8a 3 Don’t be selfish; don’t try to impress others. Be humble, thinking of others as better than yourselves. 4 Don’t look out only for your own interests, but take an interest in others, too. 5 You must have the same attitude that Christ Jesus had. 6 Though he was God, he did not think of equality with God as something to cling to. 7 Instead, he gave up his divine privileges; he took the humble position of a slave and was born as a human being. When he appeared in human form, 8 he humbled himself in obedience to God…
• Proverbs 15:22 Plans go wrong for lack of advice; many advisers bring success.

Relationships are more important than your plans or ideas.

• Some people experience broken relationships because they were not willing to change.
• Sometimes the way we do things does change.
• Today, would you be willing to:
  • Surrender your life to God?
  • Follow God’s way instead of your way?
  • Be uncomfortable yet be obedient?
  • Have a Christ-like attitude?
  • Be humble and do things differently?
  • Ask for forgiveness from those you have hurt with your selfish attitude?

Lord Jesus, I admit that I am a sinner. I know that the penalty of my sin is physical, spiritual, and eternal death. I acknowledge that I can’t do anything about my situation. But I know that You came to pay the penalty for my sin. I trust in You alone as the One who died in my place. I repent of my sin and trust in You alone as the only One who can place me in an eternal relationship with the living God. I desire to be Your child. I desire to live as Your child. In Your name. Amen.

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