Inwardly Calculating

There is a nursery rhyme that is called ‘The Greedy Dog’ that goes like this,

“What a good time I shall have eating this meat when I get home!” said the dog as it started to cross a stream of water.

He stopped suddenly and looked down into the water. There was his shadow.

“That dog has a larger piece of meat than I,” he said. “I want that piece of meat and I will have it!”

He growled, but the dog in the water did not move nor did he drop his piece of meat.

He snapped at the dog in the water. He was soon sorry for that, for the meat slipped from his mouth and sank to the bottom of the stream, and the dog in the water lost his meat at the same time.

When the motives of our hearts are of greed and selfishness, we will lose out on anything good we could have had.

Proverbs 23:6-9 says in the King James Version, “Eat thou not the bread of him that hath an evil eye, neither desire thou his dainty meats: For as he thinketh in his heart, so is he: Eat and drink, saith he to thee; but his heart is not with thee. The morsel which thou hast eaten shalt thou vomit up and lose thy sweet words. Speak not in the ears of a fool: for he will despise the wisdom of thy words.” And same verses in Proverbs 23:6-9 says in the English Standard Version, “Do not eat the bread of a man who is stingy; do not desire his delicacies, for he is like one who is inwardly calculating. “Eat and drink!” he says to you, but his heart is not with you. You will vomit up the morsels that you have eaten and waste your pleasant words. Do not speak in the hearing of a fool, for he will despise the good sense of your words.” Jesus is not looking for those who have the most to give, but for those who have the right motive of heart. It is not worth it for us to waste our time on the greedy, inwardly calculating, and stingy folks. Any affirmation that we might receive from them will be with an ulterior motive in mind.

God is not looking for lip service, but for genuinely loving hearts of praise and kindness. In Isaiah 29:13 the prophet stated, “Wherefore the Lord said, Forasmuch as this people draw near me with their mouth, and with their lips do honor me, but have removed their heart far from me, and their fear toward me is taught by the precept of men:” In Matthew 15:7-11 Jesus referred back to Isaiah, “Ye hypocrites, well did Esaias prophesy of you, saying, This people draweth nigh unto me with their mouth, and honoureth me with their lips; but their heart is far from me. But in vain they do worship me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men. And he called the multitude, and said unto them, Hear, and understand: Not that which goes into the mouth defiles a man; but that which cometh out of the mouth, this defiles a man.” And in Mark 7:6-7 as well, “He answered and said unto them, well hath Esaias prophesied of you hypocrites, as it is written, this people honoureth me with their lips, but their heart is far from me. Howbeit in vain do they worship me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men.”

Have you ever had a friend, or a so called friend, that did you a favor, and you never heard the end of it? From that moment on, you were indebted to them. Know this, that if that has happened to you, that person does not love you unconditionally, as Jesus does us, and as we are instructed to do for others. How can we know this? Because they did not do something for you through a heart of love, kindness, and unselfishness, but with a heart of selfishness, self-gratification, and greed. As they are fulfilling your request, though they may not say a word out loud, they are wondering what is in this for me, how and when I will get repaid. They are stingy, greedy, and inwardly calculating. They will ruminate over the fact that you owe them and will be waiting for the day to get paid back. This is not God’s way. In fact, this is the opposite of true love.

Jesus said in Matthew 5:42-48, “Give to him that asketh thee, and from him that would borrow of thee turn not thou away. Ye have heard that it hath been said, thou shalt love thy neighbour, and hate thine enemy. But I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you; That ye may be the children of your Father which is in heaven: for he maketh his sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust. For if ye love them which love you, what reward have ye? do not even the publicans the same? And if ye salute your brethren only, what do ye more than others? do not even the publicans so? Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect.” If you do me a favor and I later return the favor and we are mutual friends, this is an awesome dynamic, but the test of true love comes when we can do something nice for someone who may be unlovable or unlovely, or we know will not be able to repay us, but we do it anyway. The dictionary definition of reciprocate is, to give and take mutually, or to return in kind or degree. Reciprocate implies a mutual or equivalent exchange or a paying back of what one has received. Synonyms are recompense, repay, requite. Then, there is God’s way.

Grace, which is God’s favor to us, has been extended to us by Jesus, is unmerited favor. We can do nothing to earn it or pay Him back for it. It is an established fact that we are all sinners, but we were redeemed, bought back to God anyway, even while we were yet sinners. Psalm 51:5 says, “Behold, I was shapen in iniquity; and in sin did my mother conceive me.” Romans 3:23-24 says, “For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God; Being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus.” Romans 6:23 then states, “For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.” And Romans 5:8 tells us, “But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.” For this reason, small children must be taught to choose the good over the bad and make good decisions. And we often must repeat more than once, “Susie, I said do not touch the sugar bowl.” James 1:13-15 affirms this, “Let no man say when he is tempted, I am tempted of God: for God cannot be tempted with evil, neither tempteth he any man: But every man is tempted, when he is drawn away of his own lust, and enticed. Then when lust hath conceived, it bringeth forth sin: and sin, when it is finished, bringeth forth death.” Thus, our need for the cross of calvary. Even though all we can offer is gratefulness by giving our life to Him, we cannot return the favor or pay him back.

Mercy is also a gift that cannot be reciprocated to God, but we can only accept with gratitude. It is a forbearance and an act of compassion towards us, who have committed an offence. This can only be done by those who have authority or power over someone else. This is not an act of greed, or stinginess or one that is inwardly calculating, but a selfless act of taking our place, by He who knew no sin. The deed was calculated, God made the plan to come and robe himself in flesh, but He is only waiting for us to accept His extended favor, not waiting for us to fail and do penance to pay him back.  Jesus during his earthly ministry was never inwardly calculating the demise of others, though He knew the purpose and plan of God for his life, was to die. He did not mingle with the sinners, publicans, and tax collectors, thinking that he may someday be able to ask them a favor, room, and board, or for a loan. Everything he did was from a pure motive. Jesus did not take out his pocket calculator while he was on the cross and begin tallying up our sins and see if he could spill just enough blood, but maybe not all, for you and me to satisfy the requirements of God for our sins. When the thief beside him asked for forgiveness, he did not tell him “Oh, okay, but you’re going to owe me big time, because I’m really going out on a limb for you here.” Neither does he hand us a bill when we come to him in repentance. He has completed the balance sheet for us, and it says, “Paid in Full”!

The story we experience in the scriptures of the life of Judas was the opposite of Jesus.  Judas was always inwardly calculating, like that friend who was always looking out for himself. Matthew 26:14-16 directly shows us his attitude, “Then one of the twelve, called Judas Iscariot, went unto the chief priests, and said unto them, what will ye give me, and I will deliver him unto you? And they covenanted with him for thirty pieces of silver. And from that time, he sought opportunity to betray him.” John 12:3-6 shows this his true motives as well, “Then took Mary a pound of ointment of spikenard, very costly, and anointed the feet of Jesus, and wiped his feet with her hair: and the house was filled with the odor of the ointment. Then saith one of his disciples, Judas Iscariot, Simon’s son, which should betray him, why was not this ointment sold for three hundred pence, and given to the poor? This he said, not that he cared for the poor; but because he was a thief, and had the bag, and bare what was put therein.”

People who are inwardly calculating like Judas are always waiting and watching for you to fail, or for their opportunity to get paid back. The fact is, they may not consciously be keeping score, but they have thought this way for so long, it has become second nature to them. Judas did not just wake up and say, “Oh, I think I will betray the Master today?” However, it was already inbuilt into him to think, “How can I make another dollar today, and how can I serve myself today?” This attitude often begins with their own insecurities or feelings of being slighted, misunderstood, or mistreated, and they are acting out of a sense of hurt, revenge or spite, however, this is a slippery slope to start down, and Judas was not able to pull himself up again. Jesus told Simon Peter, in Luke 22:31-32, “And the Lord said, Simon, Simon, behold, Satan hath desired to have you, that he may sift you as wheat: But I have prayed for thee, that thy faith fail not: and when thou art converted, strengthen thy brethren.”  He knew what was going to happen, and was forewarning Peter to beware, because his own heart could lead him astray down a cowardly, inwardly calculating slippery slope. Jesus prayed for Peter in advance, that he would come to his senses quickly, and see the error of his ways, so he could become loving and compassionate as Jesus had taught them to be during his earthly ministry.

I have worked for over forty years now, and there are many in the workplace who you will meet who are inwardly calculating. From supervisors on down to the one who sits right beside you, they chant the mantra, “Teamwork, teamwork, teamwork”, however, when the rubber meets the road, they are all out for themselves. They want to advance their careers no matter who they must step on to get to where they are going. They often feel threatened by others who may show promise and see them as the enemy. They are waiting on the proverbial sidelines for others to do something wrong that they can scrutinize and bring to the boss’s attention. They are inwardly calculating. Let us not be numbered amongst this group in the workplace, at home, at church, in our communities, or just as a simple friend or acquaintance to someone. Don’t make someone ashamed that they confided in you. Don’t keep score hoping to get a pay day. If the little dog in the nursery rhyme had been grateful for what he had and gone on to the house, he would have enjoyed the delicious meat he had, but because of his greed he lost it all.

Let us live with gratitude, and not attitude. We have been forgiven all, let us, likewise, not hold anything to the charge of others. Let us give freely out of the abundance of what we have been given. James 1:2-5, 17 says, “My brethren, count it all joy when ye fall into divers temptations; Knowing this, that the trying of your faith worketh patience. But let patience have her perfect work, that ye may be perfect and entire, wanting nothing. If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally, and upbraids not; and it shall be given him. Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father of lights, with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning.” We do not have to keep score, we know where our help comes from and if we ask with pure motive and heart, He will supply. Paul stated in Philippians 4:19, “But my God shall supply all your need according to his riches in glory by Christ Jesus.” This takes away the very need of root cause of being greedy or stingy or keeping score, because when we are God’s children, we will not have need or be in want. David said in Psalm 37:25, “I have been young, and now am old; yet have I not seen the righteous forsaken, nor his seed begging bread.”  Today is the day to put our calculators away!