The Only Guaranteed Investment

(Photo: Unsplash)

I’m certainly no financial wizard. One look at my bank account will verify that (please send help?!). But with my little experience investing, I know enough to know that not every investment yields a return. A “sure thing” doesn’t exist.

Cue the crypto-enthusiasts.

I’m also no business tycoon. I couldn’t tell you the difference between an LLC and an S Corp to save my life (seriously, please send help!). And while I’m far from being an entrepreneur, I’ve had to get creative with freelance work and second jobs to keep my family’s head above water. In my little experience carving out financial opportunities, I know enough to know that not all of the investments of my time and energy make a return.

It’s easy for me, a product of our modern capitalistic culture, to transpose my ideas of work onto the spiritual life, and I know that I’m not alone there. But Kingdom work is worlds apart from our 9-to-5s and side hustles.

You might be familiar with the Parable of the Talents, one of the last parables Jesus gave before his crucifixion. To recap: A man leaves on a journey, entrusting three servants with his property. He gives five talents to one servant, two to another and one to the last. The servant with five talents invests them and makes five more talents, while the servant with two talents does similarly and makes two more. The last servant, however, buries his talent to ensure its safety.

A few things stand out for me in this parable that all of us in 2025 America should take to heart.

Kingdom investments always yield a return.

The two servants in this parable who invested what they were given each made a return. No one who invested lost out. When we invest in the Kingdom (read: evangelize), Jesus assures us that we, too, always make a return.

One of the biggest reasons we’re hesitant to evangelize is that we’re afraid of losing something — our time, comfort, a relationship, etc. We can think of evangelization as a sort of “spiritual side gig,” a short-term project full of risk. 

However, we need to remember that evangelization never results in a total loss or a negative return. It is our responsibility to give what has been given to us, and it always brings a reward. This is a truth we need to remind ourselves of constantly.

Now, does evangelization cost your time? It sure does.

Does evangelization cost your comfort? Sometimes.

And can evangelization cost a potential relationship? It’s possible.

However, does evangelization make back what you put in? Always and more.

Kingdom investments aren’t always what we envision.

If you invest money, you get money back. It’s a pretty simple formula.

The same is true in the workforce. If you invest your time and energy, you get money and opportunities — hopefully. Again, pretty straightforward.

When you invest in the Kingdom, though, you have no idea what you’ll get back. 

You might get a family member who returns to the Church after a long absence. You might get a friend to spiritually run with and to chase holiness alongside. You might get a beautiful ripple effect, a friend who goes on to evangelize dozens or hundreds of other people. 

You also might get nothing until long after your life, a heavenly reward that only time can reveal. 

We tend to view these types of investments in the “real world” as high-risk, high-reward investments — the kind that require your effort upfront but leave you in the dark on what the benefit will be.

However, evangelization is a low-risk, infinite-reward kind of investment. It requires your effort upfront, but is guaranteed to plant seeds that will bear fruit for all of eternity.

If there were a stock of this kind on the trading floor, people would be chomping at the bit to get a piece of it. It would make Bitcoin look like child’s play.

For my visual learners: Kingdom ROI = ∞

Kingdom investments are par for the course.

The third servant in this parable doesn’t invest the talent given to him, and as a result, he has everything taken away from him. 

Jesus explains this repercussion by saying, “For to all those who have, more will be given, and they will have an abundance; but from those who have nothing, even what they have will be taken away” (Matthew 25:29).

I find this particularly interesting because Jesus says the same exact words earlier in the Gospel of Matthew (13:12), “For to those who have, more will be given, and they will have an abundance; but from those who have nothing, even what they have will be taken away.”

Jesus iterates this particular point: we have been given the greatest treasure in the universe, and it’s our duty to share it. And when we do share that treasure, we receive even more! Jesus essentially promises us infinite spiritual wealth. Low-risk, infinite-reward.

“The rich keep getting richer,” some might say.

The real risk is doing nothing with this divine treasure. 

Our faith is not a high-interest savings account, even though so many of us treat it as such. We act like we can keep our faith neatly tucked away and then just cash in one day. But that’s not how it works. Not according to Jesus, at least.

You have been given a divine fortune, my friend. Go share it with those around you, knowing that you cannot lose!