That Silly Question

Think about the last time you met someone new. Got it in your head? Good. Now think about the first five minutes of conversation you had with them. Isn’t it funny how most conversations with new people are almost identical? You may ask their name, and then almost every time, The Question comes. This question comes early in every conversation between strangers, and it’s the Great Question we all ask for a variety of reasons. Can you guess what it is? Drumroll please….

“So what do you do?”

Or, if you’re in college:

“So what’s your major?”

Since “So what’s your major” is really just the college version of “So what do you do”, let’s treat them both as one in the same.

Like I mentioned, we all ask this for a variety of reasons. Some ask it hoping to open a door towards further conversation. Others ask it because they’re in MPM (Meet People Mode) and that’s what you do when you’re meeting people. Still others (hopefully not many) ask it to compare themselves with that person and feel some sort of vocational superiority. Regardless of the reasons, why do we ask this question? And more specifically, why do we ask it so early? Almost immediately after we ask someone’s name, we ask what they do. Why?

For whatever reason, in America we identify ourselves first by our name and next by our vocation. When we want to discover who somebody is, we ask about what they do. And then the rest of the conversation flows from that, all relating back to Bob the Carpenter or Jane the Professor or Karl the Pastor. Vocation plays a huge role in how we define ourselves, and that raises some fun questions.

If Bob decides to be a Farmer, does Bob cease to be Bob? If Jane gets sick of teaching and becomes a student, do you have to reintroduce yourself to her because she’s a new person? I hope you’re starting to see the problem here.

If our goal is to know somebody, then “so what do you do” is a weak question. What we do has little to do with who we are. There’s a better question out there. We need to trade the “What” in with a “Why” and ask, “I’m not that interested in what you do. Why do you do what you do?” For clarification, this isn’t the why that refers to past events (like saying “I’m at Georgia Tech because it’s the only place I applied”), but the why that is the motivation behind what you’re doing (like “I’m at Georgia Tech because I love learning”).

We’ve become so focused on what we do that we can go weeks, months, years, and even decades without asking why. We place great value on titles like Lawyer and Doctor and Pastor and Professor, and then we strive for these vocations as ends in themselves. Why am I in college? Why am I pursuing med school? Why am I working?

Maybe we avoid that question because it’s terrifying. It’s terrifying to ask because it could cause an awkward conversation. And it’s terrifying to receive because it makes us ponder ideas we rarely consider. It forces us to retreat from the daily grind and ask, “Why do I grind every day?” Our thoughts shift from our actions towards our goals, and we visit a place often shadowed by our daily decisions. We explore the land containing our convictions and dreams and desires, and we find out what’s driven us to where we are today.

For many of us, the answer is comfort. Whether it’s making money or retiring well or buying the latest toys, we build our lives around comfort. For others of us, the answer is prominence. We pursue our career or buy nice cars so that people will notice us. In comfort, we seek lives of ease, and in prominence, we seek man’s praise. You may wonder, does this matter? Can’t we make our own choices that make us happy? We can make these choices, but let’s take this into account:

Do not be overawed when a man grows rich, when the splendor of his house increases

Psalm 49:16

If you notice, this verse mentions comfort and prominence. The man is comfortable in his riches and prominent in his house’s splendor. Normally, these things are something we admire and pursue. But the psalmist tells us something different. He says don’t be overawed. Why?

For he will take nothing with him when he dies, his splendor will not descend with him. Though while he lived he counted himself blessed— and men praise you when you prosper-  he will join the generation of his fathers, who will never see the light of life. A man who has riches without understanding is like the beasts that perish.

Psalm 49:17-20

We make a grave mistake when we spend our lives for comfort and man’s praise. Most tangibly, we don’t take them with us when we die. Comfort and riches stay on earth and man’s praise fades into history. Nothing that we have will follow us to the grave, so why do we stand in awe of people with great wealth and prominence? Don’t be overawed. Even kings go six feet under. We would be fools to live for things that don’t last.

With that in mind, the psalmist highlights something less tangible, but infinitely more important. Look at the fate of the man that lives for comfort and prominence:

He will join the generation of his fathers, who will never see the light of life. A man who has riches without understanding is like the beasts that perish.

Psalm 49:19-20

He will never see the light of life! He will perish like the beasts because he lacks understanding. Now, what do these mean? What is the light of life? And what is understanding? Let’s turn to Jesus:

Do not work for food that spoils, but for food that endures to eternal life, which the Son of Man will give you.

John 6:27

Comfort is food that spoils. Man’s praise is food that spoils. But Jesus will give you eternal life free of charge! Connecting this back to the Psalm, the man without understanding is one who looks eternal life in the face, but still chooses to labor for rotten bread. This man will never see the light of life. He’s eaten his full of mold and now it damns him to hell. This is the great tragedy of our day. We’re so infatuated with the temporal that we neglect the eternal.

Ladies and gentlemen, as Good Friday and Easter approach, contemplate the grace of God in the murdered and risen Christ. He pardons all of our neglect and worldly pursuits through Jesus’ death and conquers the grisly end of death through Jesus’ resurrection. Eternal life stands waiting. Trust in Christ, and understand why you do everything in your life – to honor and serve and love and thank Him for His finished work on your behalf.