Stay in Your Leadership Lane

“Stay in your lane!” This is what I said (to my windshield) the other day while driving on our local interstate. I was following someone who constantly drifted from lane to lane. Besides being dangerous, it was just plain frustrating.

Drifting or unintentional lane changing are just unacceptable in a variety of activities. Here are a few of them:

• Stay in your lane if you are running the 100-meter Track and Field event.  
• Stay in your lane if you are swimming in the 200-meter Relay.
• Stay in your lane when you are driving slower than me and I want to pass you on the interstate. (I had to throw this one in just in case we encounter each other somewhere on the road system.)
• Stay in your lane in leadership once you discover what God created you to be and do.

One of the greatest distractions I have observed in leadership is a leader who wants to constantly “change leadership lanes.” I am not talking about refusing to develop new skills, getting out of your comfort zone or being stretched. I am talking about trying to be something God never intended for you to be – or refusing to take the time to develop a gift/skill because you are so changeable. . . . I call it changing lanes.

I have seen leaders fail who could have succeeded because they were not content to be the best __?__ God intended. Someone else’s gift of spotify plaques looked more intriguing to them, so like a child at a birthday party they tried to grab it and declare it to be their own. The problem of course is that, as with the child at the party, just grabbing it does not make it yours.

The Bible talks about this very subject in Ephesians 4 when it explains how every believer has been given gifts to use for “the work of the ministry” v 12. When the body of Christ works together it is amazing to see the efficiency and effectiveness of the work. However, when we try to “change leadership lanes” attempting to be something God never intended, the entire body suffers.

I had to personally realize a long time ago that I could not be good at everything. Working with the body of Christ as a team is rewarding and God-honoring. Are you being inefficient or ineffective because you are attempting to “change leadership lanes?” You will never be more fulfilled or of more value to God’s team for you than when you are running in the lane He intended!