Increasing Your ROI
By Ryan Dawson
If you invest in the stock market or have financial investments of some kind you know that there is a great deal of uncertainty in the financial markets these days. As investments lose value and portfolios shrink, the question “How is my Return on Investment (ROI)” becomes even more relevant to those investing. The reason we ask this question is because we do expect a return when we make an investment. We expect that our money will grow, helping us better prepare for the future. As Proverb 13:11 says: “Dishonest money dwindles away, but whoever gathers money little by little makes it grow.” Maybe we should stress the “little by little” as the markets have been very bumpy this past year.
But more important than our financial ROI, I want us to consider our spiritual ROI. When we invest God’s Word into our lives it will bring significant growth. There is inherent power in the gospel of grace to bring growth, blessing, and increase. As followers of Jesus Christ, it is only natural that we grow as people in terms of our character and our fruitfulness. But in order to grow we must make becoming mature in Christ a priority, for as one author stated: “change is inevitable but growth is intentional.”
I can’t emphasize enough how important it is for each one of us to grow in our love relationship with God and to go daily to His Word for strength, nourishment, and wisdom. This is one of the reasons we have emphasize the COMA method of Bible Study in our Impact Communities. COMA stands for Context, Observation, Meaning, Application and this method helps us work through a passage of Scripture so we can understand it and apply it to our lives. We need to be people who are self-feeding on God’s Word and we need a community of faith to journey with as we live out our faith.
When Satan was tempting Jesus in the wilderness, Jesus responded emphatically: “People do not live on bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God,” (Matthew 4:4) and I think He actually meant what He said. What would happen in our homes, our schools, our church, and our communities if we all started to feed daily on God’s Word and began to live this out in the context of our faith community? I think we would be an unstoppable force for good in our world and people would see the glory of Christ in and through us! So how is your spiritual ROI?
In the days ahead I would like to challenge you to spend some time reflecting on a number of scriptures that talk about the power and potential of growth in an effort to increase your spiritual ROI. In the New Testament the Greek word auxano is translated as grow, grew, growing, and to become greater. I believe you will be encouraged and challenged as you investigate these passages and delve more into the growing gospel of grace.
For Christ and His Kingdom, Ryan
Matthew 13:31-32 Mark 4:8 Luke 1:80, 2:40
John 3:30 Acts 6:7, 12:24, 19:20 1 Corinthians 3:6-7
2 Corinthians 9:10, 10:15 Ephesians 2:21, 4:15 Colossians 1:6, 1:10, 2:19
1 Peter 2:2 2 Peter 3:18
If you invest in the stock market or have financial investments of some kind you know that there is a great deal of uncertainty in the financial markets these days. As investments lose value and portfolios shrink, the question “How is my Return on Investment (ROI)” becomes even more relevant to those investing. The reason we ask this question is because we do expect a return when we make an investment. We expect that our money will grow, helping us better prepare for the future. As Proverb 13:11 says: “Dishonest money dwindles away, but whoever gathers money little by little makes it grow.” Maybe we should stress the “little by little” as the markets have been very bumpy this past year.
But more important than our financial ROI, I want us to consider our spiritual ROI. When we invest God’s Word into our lives it will bring significant growth. There is inherent power in the gospel of grace to bring growth, blessing, and increase. As followers of Jesus Christ, it is only natural that we grow as people in terms of our character and our fruitfulness. But in order to grow we must make becoming mature in Christ a priority, for as one author stated: “change is inevitable but growth is intentional.”
I can’t emphasize enough how important it is for each one of us to grow in our love relationship with God and to go daily to His Word for strength, nourishment, and wisdom. This is one of the reasons we have emphasize the COMA method of Bible Study in our Impact Communities. COMA stands for Context, Observation, Meaning, Application and this method helps us work through a passage of Scripture so we can understand it and apply it to our lives. We need to be people who are self-feeding on God’s Word and we need a community of faith to journey with as we live out our faith.
When Satan was tempting Jesus in the wilderness, Jesus responded emphatically: “People do not live on bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God,” (Matthew 4:4) and I think He actually meant what He said. What would happen in our homes, our schools, our church, and our communities if we all started to feed daily on God’s Word and began to live this out in the context of our faith community? I think we would be an unstoppable force for good in our world and people would see the glory of Christ in and through us! So how is your spiritual ROI?
In the days ahead I would like to challenge you to spend some time reflecting on a number of scriptures that talk about the power and potential of growth in an effort to increase your spiritual ROI. In the New Testament the Greek word auxano is translated as grow, grew, growing, and to become greater. I believe you will be encouraged and challenged as you investigate these passages and delve more into the growing gospel of grace.
For Christ and His Kingdom, Ryan
Matthew 13:31-32 Mark 4:8 Luke 1:80, 2:40
John 3:30 Acts 6:7, 12:24, 19:20 1 Corinthians 3:6-7
2 Corinthians 9:10, 10:15 Ephesians 2:21, 4:15 Colossians 1:6, 1:10, 2:19
1 Peter 2:2 2 Peter 3:18