For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared ahead of time for us to do.

Ephesians 2:10

I have to admit, I got a little tickled typing the title above. As my fingers clicked away on the keys, I was taken back to the dormitory common room where the TV inevitably ended up on WWF wrestling (or maybe it was WWE by then). The garish costumes and outlandish personalities always caught my attention even though the “sport” itself seemed more like a choregraphed charade of greased up, scantily clad musclemen and musclewomen. Of particular popularity at the time, was “The Rock” (now known as actor Dwayne Johnson). One of his most famous lines was “Know your role” – which he followed with “and shut your mouth”.

Interestingly enough, we find that God tells us the exact opposite: God says to know your role and use it to tell everyone about Him.

You see, we all have one general purpose: love God and love others. Within that general purpose though, we each have a specific role. A role that God designed for us personally before we were even born (Jeremiah 1:5). Some speak of this role as a calling, others an appointment.

Either way, we recognize it as the thing that God has set aside for a person to use their unique gifts, talents, and skill set to do.

It can be challenging to find your calling because you have to be obedient to hear it, intently asking God how best you can serve, examining the needs around you, and opening yourself to God’s will.

Once found and committed to, you have to be vigilant not to lose sight of it. There will always be other needs, other demands, floating around on the periphery of your calling; related projects that you could be pulled into because they involve the same workers or the same audience.

These other areas are often good and timely and need addressed, and as helpful people, we often want to put down what we are doing and go help.

What I’ve discovered though is that, while it is good to be helpful, these other areas can inadvertently pull us away from the specific piece that God has given us to do. This can make us feel frustrated with the work, often without us even realizing why we are frustrated.

What I’m learning about those peripheral needs is that they don’t always need addressed by me, even if they are related to my calling.

I learned this first when I worked in state-level educational leadership. Our children need so much from the school system, but if I tried to address every need – poverty, hunger, opioid crisis, literacy, math, length of bus ride, condition of school building, teacher support – I would have stretched myself too thin, never have seen anything accomplished, and become overwhelmed, hopeless, and frustrated. I realized that God had called me to one area and, while the others areas are very important, God has called, is calling, or will call someone else to address those areas; though I can chip in from time to time, those are not my focus areas.

Recently I’ve learned this same lesson in other areas of my life. I’m praying and studying and writing, recentering on a calling that was muddied by other activities for several years.

Thankfully, God does not become as frustrated with us as we become with ourselves. He remains steadfast and calls us back to our true purpose, to our part of the masterpiece He is creating.

God gives us permission to focus on one thing more intently than others; in fact He often wills us to do so and it is in losing sight of His will that we become frustrated in the first place.

Sweet friend, I don’t know about you, but I am immensely grateful for the redirecting hand of the Lord our God and for the patience He extends to us every day.

I’m curious, if God were to look you square in the eye with that smoldering gaze that “The Rock” so famously possessed and say, “Know your role”, what would that role be? Do you know?

Are you running yourself ragged fulfilling your role and the role of others too? Are you running in the opposite direction or wishing for a different role than the one God has called you to do?

Beloved, there’s no better time than right now to talk to God about the role He has for you and how best to go about completing it. There’s no better day than today to step into the good works that He has prepared for you in advance to do!