I’m InSample

I’m Invested

Investing is taking a risk to entrust what you have to someone or something else, with the expectation that it will return something greater. 

When church people start talking investment, sometimes it gets weird. It doesn’t have to.

Yes, God asked for some financial buy-in. You’ve probably heard it referred to as a “tithe,” which is a tenth of our income returned back to God’s work, through His Church. You may have even thought about the tithe as an investment before. You give 10 percent and God turns it into so much more. It’s true—God does do that. And yes, if you’re giving God all of your life, you might as well give Him 10 percent of your money (since it really all belongs to Him anyway). 

But there’s something so much greater happening. You are an investment. 

God looked at something He had (Jesus, the Holy Spirit, the Cosmos, life itself), He entrusted you with it, and He fully expects God-sized returns.

• Before you walked the earth, God invested His unlimited creativity and resources to make it the only known planet in the Cosmos where human life can thrive. 
• When you were just an idea to God, He invested His thoughts and imagination into creating you. 
• Before you were born, God invested into your lineage, your heritage, and your DNA. 
• When you gave your life to Jesus, you received the return on the investment He made when He gave His life for you. 
• When the Holy Spirit filled you, you received His friendship and His gifts invested in you for others. 

Actually, the word investment originally comes from this idea of being clothed. Specifically, being clothed in the official robes for a particular role. To be clothed in authority. Like the person in bright green whom we immediately trust to direct traffic. When God invested Himself in you, He didn’t do it just on the off chance that He’d get 10 percent of your money back one day. He clothed you in the official robes of your role so that you, and everyone around you, could know who you are: His child. 

No wonder He wants you to put on the armor of God. No wonder He has big plans for you. No wonder He gave up so much to give you a way back to Him. No wonder He wants you to go into the world telling everyone what He’s already invested in them. No wonder it’s no big deal to give a little bit of our money back to His work in our world. No wonder He expects such great things for you. He’s clothed you as His kid.

You get to decide to store up His investment—or pour it out through your life as a God-sized return of worship back to Him.

Consider: If I believe I’m invested in by God because I am His kid, how will that change what I pour out into others and into His work around me?