What in the World Are You Doing?
Can you hear your mother’s voice saying that? Go ahead: let those words run through your mind a few times, trying out those different parental voices. With a touch of exasperation: What in the world are you doing? Perhaps in her last-straw, you-have-gotten-on-my-very-last-nerve voice: WHAT in the world are you DOING?! Or even in amusement: What in the world are you doing? Inflection, emphasis, tone of voice, they all communicate meaning as much as the words themselves. Here’s what we mean by those words: What. In the world. Are you. Doing
What = A word used to ask for more information, often about the purpose of something or the nature of somebody.
In the world = Can refer to planet Earth; the earth, including all its inhabitants and the things in it; society as a whole; or particular areas of human activity.
Are you = Meaning an individual you’re conversing with or people in general.
Doing = This agile little word can refer to things that one does every day, as in “Everyday doings.” It can suggest actions that require more out of us than the everyday stuff, like “That will take a great deal of doing.” It can also mean a position of accountability: “This is your doing, your responsibility.”
Put it all together and you get: Tell me more about our nature and purpose here and what we’re meant to do and be. Sounds like a big hairy philosophical question, doesn’t it?
What about our nature and purpose? God said we are made in His likeness and that we are to “fill the earth and bring it under [our] control” (Genesis 1:28, NIrV). But what does that mean exactly? Is the earth ours, to do with however we please? Or is it God’s, even though He’s made us accountable for it? Genesis 1 has some answers (which we will examine in week 1), so the question of the day will be: What in the world are you doing to take care of what God made?
But there’s more than one kind of “natural resource.” Because God created each of us in His image, we have certain qualities like His and certain abilities like His. Therefore, each of us has talents, abilities, and possessions that God has entrusted to us and that He wants put to good use. Jesus even told a parable about that (Matthew 25:14, the Bible lesson for week 2). So what in the world are you doing to use what God gave you?
Words, like talents, abilities, and possessions, can be used wisely or unwisely. They can be leveraged to build or to tear down. Ephesians 4:29 (the lesson for week 3) says, “Don’t let any evil talk come out of your mouths. Say only what will help to build others up and meet their needs. Then what you say will help those who listen” (NIrV). What in the world are you doing to encourage others with your words?
Jesus said, “‘You are the light of the world’” (Matthew 5:14, NIrV). That’s what God means for us to be: lights atop a dark hillside that draw people in, to God. In week 4 we’ll explore what that looks like in a kid’s world. What in the world are you doing to show others God’s goodness?
So, what… in the world… are you… doing? We’ll explore those and related ideas in a special two-month edition of 252 Basics designed to help kids see connections between responsibility (what we’ll be talking about in June) and service (what we’ll focus on in July).
By Melanie Williams. © 2010 The reThink Group * www.rethinkgroup.org * All rights reserved. Used by permission.
