I’m not sure where I was first told to stay in my lane, but I think it might have been my Jr. High Track coach as he was coaching us on the finer elements of the 4 x 100 relay. Now, if you’re not familiar with the 4 x 100, each runner is positioned approximately 100 meters apart and takes their turn running 100 meters in their marked lane with the baton. At the end of their segment, their goal is to hand the baton onto the next runner who then runs 100 meters until the team advances their baton around the track and across the finish line, ideally as the fastest team to do so that day. Sounds easy enough until you understand that each lane is only about four feet wide and each runner is running as fast as they possibly can while simultaneously staying as close to the inside of their lane as possible so as to decrease the distance they have to travel around the curve of the track. Adding to the stress of the race is Adding to the stress of the race is one rule that cannot be violated – runners
must absolutely stay in their own lanes, and the penalty of deviating from their assigned lane is that the entire team is disqualified from the race. In my Jr. High and High School years, I ran many curves on relays and there were days that it was really challenging to stay in my assigned lane because I wanted to be as close as humanly possible to the inside lane where the other runner was – Never mind the fact that he started behind me to make up for the distance, I was only concerned with how much running I had left and I knew if I could inch closer to the inside, I wouldn’t have to run as far. But when my eyes would drift too far to the left, I found myself drifting ever closer to the line and disqualification rather than keeping my eyes on my assigned lane and running the race laid out before me.
Interestingly enough, Jesus faced a similar situation with His disciples after His resurrection. John records it this way: Peter turned and saw the disciple whom Jesus loved following them…(and) When Peter saw him, he said to Jesus, “Lord, what about this man?” Jesus said to him, “If it is my will that he remain until I come, what is that to you? You follow me!” – John 21:20-22 (ESV)
Peter had just been told that following Christ cost Him everything and Peter wasn’t too comfortable with that thought. To refocus the discomfort of the moment, Peter turned around and saw John and asked Jesus why couldn’t John bear that burden? Jesus’ answer was essentially, Peter, stay in your lane Bro. John is John and what I want for John is not your concern. But that’s how we operate isn’t it? We want something that someone else has and we focus on the other’s thing rather than focusing on our own life and relationship with Jesus. And that’s the problem with keeping our eyes on other people – We don’t know what their world looks like. We look at the stuff we know about ourselves and compare it with what we think we know about them and every time we do that, we will look at Jesus and say, what about them? I don’t want what I have; I want what I think they have. And Jesus’ answer to Peter is His answer to us: If I want that person to have something you do not, what is that to you? You follow me.”
If we as people would focus on the race set out before each of us and run with endurance the race laid out before us, what would we be able to accomplish? My prayer for you is that you see the life you are called to live and encourage others – without judgment, jealousy, envy or strife – in the life they are called to live. Stay in your lane, never quit, and finish the race.