Outrageous Returns

Then he who had received the five talents went and traded with them, and made another five talents. 17 And likewise he who had received two gained two more also. 

_The Parable of the Talents, Matthew 25:14-30

It seems to me that Jesus is setting the bar in this passage.

A 10% return would have been noteworthy, doubling the assets in about seven years. (Most money managers do not do this on a regular basis.)

A 25% return would have been dramatically aggressive and certainly worth celebrating loudly.

But 100%!?

What was He thinking?

Minimally He was thinking that we can do far better than most people settle for.

The ONE THING for today: Go big! Don’t measure your success by those around you, expect and plan for wildly above average returns on your efforts and on your life.

Of course, this only makes sense if you’re doing it for Jesus.

“The crisis of the church today has little to do with dwindling numbers, aging congregations, outdated facilities, financial crises…

Today’s church crisis stems from one thing: Jesus Deficit Disorder.

The church’s narrative is biblically, theologically, and spiritually bankrupt. The church has been busy telling stories other than God’s story, dreaming other dreams than God’s dream as revealed by Jesus.”

— So Beautiful: Divine Design for Life and the Church by Leonard Sweet

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Photo by Arturo Añez on Unsplash