You Don’t (Necessarily) Have to Stay in Your Lane
by Steph Beth Nickel
As a writer, you’ve likely heard the advice to “stay in your lane.”
This is conventional wisdom that encourages us to write only one genre of novel, stick with nonfiction on a single topic—or clearly related topics, become known as an expert in our field, etc.
However, despite the fact that there are good reasons to do so, it is not the best advice for all writers.
While it may be more difficult to develop my readership or earn a significant amount of money from my writing, I could never see myself staying in my lane.
With that in mind, I am posting twice a week on Substack: chapters of my YA manuscript on Mondays and devotionals based on those first written for HopeStreamRadio on Fridays. If you would like to subscribe, I’d love to have you join me on my (for now) two-lane highway. [See the link at the end of this post]
I’ve included one of the posts from my devotional/Bible study below and will share the first post from my YA manuscript next month.
Day 1 of Nurture and Inspire Love: A Study of Jesus’s Commands in the Gospel of John
Scripture quotations are from The ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®), © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
In the introduction to Nurture and Inspire Love, we learned some of the reasons Jesus has the right to require our obedience. Amazingly, He does not do so from a position of comfort and privilege. Philippians 2:1-8 gives us a glimpse of what He gave up for us—and what He did to redeem us.
We all want to be loved, and no matter how many wonderful people are in our lives, none can compare to our great God and the love He has for us.
John 3:16 says, “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.”
John 3:16 provides a glimpse of just how much God loves us. And according to 1 John 4:19, “We love because he first loved us.”
And as Jesus says in John 14:15, “If you love me, you will keep my commandments.”
The first commandments we read in the Gospel of John are in chapter 1, verses 39 and 43: “Come and you will see” and “Follow me.”
John the Baptist was an amazing man. In Matthew 11:11, Jesus declared that “among those born of women there has arisen no one greater than John the Baptist.”
One of the most amazing things about John was his humility. He freely admitted that Jesus had to increase and he had to decrease. Because John made this declaration, when two of his disciples heard him say of Jesus, “Behold the Lamb of God” (found in John 1:36), they immediately left John and followed the Lord.
Jesus asked them what they were seeking. They simply asked where He was staying, and the Lord responded, “Come and see.”
Grammatically speaking, it’s a command, but it sounds more like an invitation. After accepting the invitation and spending the day with Jesus, Andrew sought out his brother, Simon Peter, and informed him they had found the Messiah. It only took a day (at most) for him to come to that conclusion and look for an opportunity to spread the word.
The next day Jesus found Phillip and commanded him to follow Him. Immediately, Phillip did so. And before long, he shared with Nathanael that they had found “him of whom Moses in the Law and also the prophets wrote” (John 1:45).
Being in Jesus’s presence for only a short time convinced these men of the truth and inspired them to share their discovery with others—though, of course, they wouldn’t fully understand what the Messiah had come to accomplish until years later.
I want to be like John the Baptist, willing to do my part to make Jesus known and then fade into the background as the bridegroom takes centerstage (see John 3:29). I want to be like those first disciples, who were immediately obedient to His call to follow and eager to invite others to “come and see.”
Just how can we come and see? We must study the Scriptures, read and revel in the stories of Jesus’s earthly ministry. We must rightly handle the Word of Truth, as it says in 2 Timothy 2:15. When we fellowship with Him, as did John’s former disciples, we too will become convinced of the obvious truth: Jesus was—and is—the Savior.
The same will be true if we heed the call to follow Him. We will soon learn that God Himself invites us to fellowship with Him and get to know Him. What an invitation!
Nurture and Inspire Love
Have you spent time with Jesus today? In what ways?
Did it motivate you to make Him known to others? If you find this challenging, what do you think is holding you back?
What one thing will you do to share the gospel today?
Recommended passage for study: Philippians 2:1-11
If you would like to subscribe to Substack for FREE to read more, you can do so here: Steph Beth Nickel | Substack
As an editor, Steph Beth Nickel has the honour of coming alongside writers to help them polish their work. As the coauthor of Paralympian Deb Willows’s memoirs, Steph has been blessed to work with this amazing woman. And as a future self-published author, with the Lord’s help, Steph has taken brave steps toward publication.
If you would like more information about her services, you can contact her at stephbethnickelediting@gmail.com.
You’re invited to visit her website: http://stephbethnickeleditor.com/.
You can join her Editing Tips Facebook group here: https://www.facebook.com/groups/418423519384351.