Think Again!

Chapter 9: God as Venture Capitalist • 85

investment. The Father’s philanthropy, the Son’s potential, and the Spirit’s power are given by grace but with anticipation that you will do something with what you receive. He wants you to use the spiritual gifts you’ve been given. He wants you to multiply good works expressed as the “fruit of the Spirit.” He wants you to replicate his love so that the body of Christ can be built up, integrated with the Head. He is not happy when he risks his capital and you do nothing with it but fearfully bury it in the ground. God is the great venture capitalist. He made the ultimate investment when he sent the Son to teach us and give his life for us. To top it all off, he sent the Holy Spirit to empower us so we can yield a series of returns on his investment. He has great expectations to double, or triple his capital – even bring 100 times the initial return. He reaps where he doesn’t sow. He gathers where he scattered no seed. He looks far and wide for those who will bring an ROI according to 2 Chronicles 16.9, “The eyes of the Lord run to and fro throughout the whole earth, to give strong support to those whose heart is blameless toward him.” Conclusion to Part II: God Provides The devil employs schemes to have us forget who we are, dump our treasured possessions in Christ, and give up our faith in God. But we are not left powerless against those schemes. In fact the Bible teaches that “the weapons of our warfare have divine power” (2 Cor. 10.4) so that we can stand against the schemes of the devil (Eph. 6.10-20). Through the Father’s philanthropy, the Son’s potential, and the Spirit’s power, we are well-equipped to engage the enemy’s attempts to steal, kill, and destroy, yielding a return on God’s venture capital investment.

How can you participate in God’s provision to produce that ROI? Part III will answer that question.