“My Lane” – Steve Martin, Love For His People ministry
July 9, 2021 Charlotte, North Carolina USA
“Now there are varieties of gifts, but the same Spirit. And there are varieties of ministries, and the same Lord.” 1 Corinthians 12:4-5
Each generation seems to have their own “language”, as words and phrases come with the passing years. Whether these expressions end up in the dictionary or not, they carry a certain idea or understanding that we learn to comprehend in our day. Except for the word “cool”, which was probably first spoken when God the Father said to Jesus after creating man. “Cool, Son.” That expression has been around for generations.
I am sure you have heard the phrase by now, “stay in your lane.” It could mean, “Do what you know how to do”; or being told, “don’t try to do something you can’t”; or how about, “Let that one do what they are good at. And you do the same in what you are good at.”
Years ago, “stay in your lane” could have been compared to “stay in your box”. Or simply, “Forget about it. That is for them. This is for you. Don’t mess it up.”
Whether it would be the new phrase or the old one, I sometimes got annoyed with both, for people wanted to keep you just doing one or two things, and it felt like one couldn’t try something new, or explore into another career, or go on in a different adventure.
It is amazing how many times people now change careers. I guess they don’t like the box or the lane they are in and need to do something else. It happens about every three or four years. Rarely does anyone stay in one place (home, job, relationship) much longer as our parents and grandparents once did. (But heh, Laurie and I have now been in the same house for 26 years, and it is paid off! Yeah, Lord!)
That I understand. There have been times when I wanted to be someone else, do something else, or just have a change from the same day-to-day, mundane as it can be at times. It was that desire to get out of the box and try a different lane once in a while.
We can appreciate how the Lord has given each of us different gifts and a wide variety of talents at that. It truly would be a boring world if everyone did the same, spoke the same, lived the same as the other guy, or gal.
As He says in Scripture, “For through the grace given to me I say to everyone among you not to think more highly of himself than he ought to think; but to think so as to have sound judgment, as God has allotted to each a measure of faith. For just as we have many members in one body and all the members do not have the same function, so we, who are many, are one body in Christ, and individually members one of another. Since we have gifts that differ according to the grace given to us, each of us is to exercise them accordingly: if prophecy, according to the proportion of his faith; if service, in his serving; or he who teaches, in his teaching; or he who exhorts, in his exhortation; he who gives, with liberality; he who leads, with diligence; he who shows mercy, with cheerfulness.” Romans 12: 2-8, NASB
But after having myself trying many things, and seeing what works or not, I can now say as the Apostle Paul said, as he learned to do what he had been given to do and walk in his calling, “his lane.”
“Not that I speak from want, for I have learned to be content in whatever circumstances I am.” Philippians 4:11, NASB
I encourage you to try new things, new adventures, to get out and see what is available for you, for in that you will find what the Lord has granted to you, as you share that which is placed within you with others. And though your lane may seem narrow at times, trust in the Living God of Israel that He is the one who enables you. You will learn to be content as you use that which has been placed in your lane to follow.
And I bet you won’t get as discouraged and as weary as you do that which you were you made to do. His grace and enabling will allow you to flourish and rise to new levels in your giftings, and you will discover that your lane is just what He has for you to accomplish His will in.
Ahava and shalom,
Steve Martin, Love For His People founder
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Message #51 – in the year of our Lord 07.09.21 – “My Lane” – Friday, 1:40 pm in Charlotte, NC USA
