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Chapter 9: God as Venture Capitalist • 83

• He appointed us to bear fruit (John 15.16). • Through Christ we should bear fruit for God (Rom. 7.4; Col. 1.10). • The Spirit produces fruit (Gal. 5.22-23). • We are to be filled with the fruit of righteousness (Phil. 1.11). • He looks for a harvest of righteousness (James 3.17-18; Heb. 12.11). God desires to make an investment that pays off far beyond what he puts in. In the Kingdom, the process of wealth creation is achieved through spiritual entrepreneurs, stewards who cleverly take what God provides to innovate, experiment, adjust, toil, assess, and innovate again. This means a steward must constantly initiate creative ideas in complex situations, exploit opportunities quickly, adjust to discouraging setbacks, and all without any certainty of a successful outcome. What works one time may not work the next time. It is not a linear process and is not for the faint of heart, the risk-averse, or the cowardly. Those who wait for a sure thing will act too late. Stewardship requires courage, hard work, and optimism; it requires love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. Parable of Venture Capital Perhaps the clearest insight into God’s venture capitalist purposes can be found in the Parable of the Talents (Matt. 25.14-30). In this story, a wealthy man prepares to depart on a long journey and calls three of his stewards together to make sure his wealth grows during his absence. To the first one he gives five talents (about 100 years of a laborer’s wages). To the second, two talents were given (40 years of wages), and to the third one talent