One of the phrases people often hear me say is “I know my lane.” What I mean by this is that I know what I’m good at and what I’m not good at. Does that mean I never do things that are out of my lane? Not at all. Sometimes it’s necessary.
For example, video editing is not my lane. However, I do this for the Elevate The Day podcast each week. My technical background has enabled me to learn how to do it, but I’m confident that someone gifted in this area could do them better.
On the flip side, ask me to write this blog, co-host the podcast, or lead a Bible Study; essentially writing and speaking? Easy peasy!
Speaking of phrases – another one that is batted around alot is “Work smarter. Not harder.”
This became increasingly popular in the entrepreneurial world as business owners were doing things they should have either delegated or simply stopped doing.
For example, if they have no clue about managing money, it would serve them better to hire an accountant. Then they would stay in their lane and be able to grow their business. That’s working smarter.
When we operate in our God-given gifts and talents, work doesn’t actually feel like work. We could spend hours doing it and it’s easy. Now, that’s not to say there will never be challenges. However, because we are doing what God designed us to do, we can tackle those hiccups with confidence and ease.
Jesus Knew His Lane
If anyone “knew their lane,” it was Jesus. Look what it says in Luke 4:18-23:
“The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me, because He has anointed Me to preach the gospel to the poor; He has sent Me to heal the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed; to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord.”
What were Jesus’ lanes?
- Preach the Gospel to the poor
- Heal the brokenhearted
- Proclaim liberty to the captives
- Recover sight for the blind
- Set at liberty those who are oppressed
- Proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord
Pretty clear, right? Jesus knew the exact purpose for His life. If you read the New Testament, He operated perfectly in each of these lanes. And…they aligned with His overall purpose which was to reconnect us back to the Father (John 3:16, John 14:6).
How did He accomplish His purpose? By operating in those six lanes for which He was anointed for by His Father.
When Gifts and Purpose Align
This is very similar to how an organization works. They set a vision, declare their purpose, identify goals to accomplish it, and then assign people to do it. When people are in the right jobs, the goals are accomplished fairly easily. When there’s a mismatch, either the goals are not accomplished or they’re done poorly.
Both the business and the people suffer. Why? Because their gifts and talents are not being used. There’s a misalignment, there’s dissatisfaction, leading them to quit.
What can we learn from this? First, as the Bible tells us, without vision, people perish (Proverbs 29:18). Meaning, without a vision, people just go through life with no direction. We are designed to work and to be fruitful. God appointed and anointed each of us with gifts and talents so we could do just that (1 Peter 4:10).
When we are out of our lane, we are not fruitful and we are actually causing harm – to ourselves and to those we work for or serve.
Rediscovering Your God-Given Gifts
So what can we do about it? How can we get back to or discover our respective lanes? First, identify your talents and gifts. What is so easy for you to do that you don’t even have to think about it?
Next, find a place where these can be used. Maybe this is a company or perhaps it could be your place of worship or a nonprofit. Finally, “work as if you were working unto the Lord” (Colossians 3:23). That means, do your absolute best, work or serve with excellence because that’s what Jesus did.
When we operate in our God-given lanes, we will naturally work smarter, not harder. More importantly, we will truly give glory to our Creator as we live according to His perfect design and purpose (Ephesians 2:10).