Charlie is quite the manipulator! Oh sure, he is a cutie pie, but a manipulator none the less. He has learned all of his appropriate doggie cues to get what he wants from us. He knows how to sit, lay down, play dead and roll over. He comes (mostly) when called and will even dance on demand.
Of course his tricks are nothing short of adorable. He knows how to use his doggie wiles to get whatever he wants from his victim. The funny thing is that he never does a trick without expecting a reward. What I mean to say is that he never does anything simply to please me, his owner.
Charlie doesn’t ask how my day was and he doesn’t offer any support or solace unless prompted. No, everything Charlie does is with an ulterior motive. He only does what’s necessary to get what he wants. He is always seeking some kind of payback for whatever he offers.
As a sweet little dog, I hardly think of him in a poor light, but manipulator is really the term I have to settle on when I think of this conniving behavior.
We do the same thing, though. How many times have you heard the joke, “I was looking for a job, not for work!” Or the familiar phrase, “what’s in it for me?” No, we aren’t too quick to offer ourselves up without some kind of compensation.
What is troubling to me is that we also carry this payback attitude into our relationship with God.
We get into a funny habit thinking that way. We start to think we can manipulate God’s Grace by the things we do. If I go to church, if I give my money, if I offer my time, then God owes me. To coin a current advertising phrase, “That’s not how this works. That’s not how ANY of this works.”
God cannot be harnessed and Grace is not earned.
It doesn’t matter how many times you go to Mass, if you have malice in your heart toward your fellow man, it’s worthless. It doesn’t matter how much money you give, if you aren’t giving it without expectation, it has no value. It doesn’t matter how many service hours you put in, if you aren’t doing it for love of others, your time is meaningless.
St. Paul says it best, in 1 Corinthians 13. You hear it often at weddings, but I really like it as an examination of conscience. “If I speak in human and angelic tongues but do not have love, I am a resounding gong or a clashing cymbal. And if I have the gift of prophecy and comprehend all mysteries and all knowledge; if I have all faith so as to move mountains but do not have love, I am nothing. If I give away everything I own, and if I hand my body over so that I may boast but do not have love, I gain nothing.”
The way God works is when we let go of the control. That’s when love and grace fill us up. It’s only when we stop keeping track of all the things we are owed that we can really be fulfilled.
God’s grace is not about earning or learning or keeping track. He doesn’t offer us rewards for doing tricks. We aren’t his pets.
We are His children.
He loves us through every moment, struggle, and success. He loves us at our best and at our worst. It’s us and our silly ways that keep us from that.
Charlie does some really great tricks, but since he’s just a dog, he always expects his reward. We aren’t dogs. We love and serve one another because Our Lord loves us. There aren’t any tricks about that.
