Who Am I to Ask for That?

It's ten o'clock at night and someone is sitting at a kitchen table with an invoice open on a laptop. The work is finished. It was good work, and the customer was happy. Now they're staring at the number. They type it in, look at it for a while, back it out, and type a smaller one.

Across town, in the same hour, someone else is still answering email. Nobody asked them to. They keep going because they're afraid that if they stop, somebody will notice they aren't as good as everyone thinks.

I sit across the desk from both of these people in my tax practice. They look like opposites. They're carrying the same question.

The Two Kinds of Tired

Start with the one who undercharges. I know a hairdresser who is wonderful at her craft and has charged the same price for six years. I know a contractor who throws in an extra free day on every job. I see it in bookkeepers, photographers, and piano teachers, excellent people who flinch the minute money comes up.

You can hear it. "Don't worry about it." "Pay me whatever you think is fair." "I'll knock a little off since you're a friend."

Sometimes that's real generosity, and generosity is a beautiful thing. A lot of the time, if we're honest, it's fear. Fear they'll say no. Fear they'll think you're greedy. Fear of a voice that says, "You? For that? Who do you think you are?" It isn't only for business owners, either. It's the employee who hasn't asked for a raise in five years, and the one who takes the first offer every time because asking feels ungrateful.

Now the other one, and this one is me. The overworker. First in, last out, texting on Saturday, checking email on vacation, phone face up on the bleachers at the ball game. From the outside it looks like dedication. When I ask what they're afraid would happen if they stopped, the answer sounds a lot like the undercharger's: they'd find out I'm not enough.

One gives the work away. The other can't stop working. One is afraid to ask, the other is afraid to rest. Both believe they have to earn their worth all over again every single day.

The Snare

Proverbs 29:25 says, "The fear of man proves to be a snare, but whoever puts his trust in Yahweh is kept safe." I had to look up what a snare was. It's a trap you don't see until your foot is already in it. Plenty of us walk in thinking we're being humble, loyal, or hardworking, when really we're working for everybody's approval, and there's never enough of that to go around.

There's a ditch on the other side of the road too. Some people aren't afraid to ask. They're afraid of not having enough, so they squeeze. They overcharge the customer who doesn't know better and cut corners on the people who work for them. Same fear, different clothes. Both ditches are asking, "Am I going to be okay?" and trying to answer with money.

After thirty years at my desk, here's what I know. You will never fix a worth problem with a pricing sheet. Raise the number on paper, and the first time a customer hesitates on the phone, the fear comes back and you discount it right down again. Before this is a math problem, it's a heart problem.

What Jesus Said Right in the Middle

In Luke 10, Jesus sends out seventy people, two by two, with no purse, no bag, no sandals. No business plan either. Then, almost in passing, in the middle of the instructions, he says, "the laborer is worthy of his wages." He doesn't argue for it. He says it like it's obvious.

Look at who he says it to. These people had just been appointed. No titles, no years of experience. Their worth came from the one who sent them. And Jesus knew the subject personally. The people in his hometown knew him as a carpenter. He knew what it was to finish a job, get it right, hand it over, and wait to be paid. I'd bet he had a customer or two who wanted a little extra thrown in for free.

Then comes the next line: "Don't go from house to house." The way I read it, he's telling them not to shop around for a better table. If it's spaghetti at this house, you eat spaghetti. In one breath, Jesus says two things: don't be ashamed to receive, and don't chase more.

Paul quotes the same line in 1 Timothy 5:18, right beside the law about not muzzling the ox while it treads the grain. He sets the words of Jesus next to Moses and calls both Scripture. Fair pay is biblical. Wanting it doesn't make you greedy. It makes you someone who reads the Bible.

Who You Really Work For

Colossians 3 was written to servants, and many of them were slaves with no say over pay, hours, or future. Paul tells them, "Whatever you do, work heartily as for the Lord and not for men, knowing that from the Lord you will receive the reward of the inheritance, for you serve the Lord Christ."

When you work for people, their opinion becomes your paycheck. You can't name a fair number because they might frown. You can't go home at six because they might think less of you. When you work for the Lord, you're already seen. You do the work well, charge fairly, and go home. He won't fire you for resting.

It frees you from greed too. No invoice will ever come close to that inheritance, so you don't have to squeeze every deal. I'm an accountant, and I'll tell you God keeps the real books.

It runs both ways. Colossians 4:1 tells masters to give their servants what is just and fair, because they have a master in heaven. James 5:4 says wages held back cry out and reach the ears of the Lord. The worker is worthy, and so are the people you pay.

Three Things for an Ordinary Tuesday

Name a fair number and stop apologizing for it. Ask yourself what you'd tell your best friend to charge for this same work. Most of us are fairer to other people than to ourselves. On your next invoice, delete the apology paragraph and send the real number. Employees, find out what the work is worth and ask once, respectfully, with facts. A no doesn't lower your worth. It tells you something about the job.

Put a fence around your work. Paul said work heartily. He didn't say endlessly. Close the laptop at a set time. Put the phone in a drawer for a day. When the fear says they'll find out, answer it: I don't work for them, I work for Him, and He told me to rest.

Pay people fairly and on time. I learned this in my father's accounting practice, where we were paid once a month and had to practically beg for it. What kept me going was knowing I wasn't serving my dad. I was serving my Father in heaven. Let the wages you pay cry out in thanks, not against you.

If you're underpaid and can't change it right now, whether you're a teacher, a home health aide, or a cashier, I won't tell you to believe harder, and it isn't your fault. Your paycheck tells you what they pay you. It has never told you what you're worth. If a better door opens, walking through it isn't disloyal. Jesus never told the seventy to stay hungry.

The Wage Nobody Wants

Romans 6:23 says, "The wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord." Wages are what we earn, and none of us wants what we've earned there. Jesus paid it. What he offers now is a gift, and a gift can only be received. If you're ready to stop earning and start receiving, tell someone today, or write to me at truthunveiledwithralph.com/decision.

Your worth was settled before your wages were ever considered. You work for the One who already knows your name.