Now, like me, somewhere in your past, you probably took a class on economics. And one of the first things your economics teacher taught you was the law of diminishing returns. My teacher’s example was a milkshake, but from personal experience, I’ll use Coca-Cola.
Diminishing Returns
When I was young, there were a few times, a very few, when my dad gave me a nickel when he pulled into a gas station. I would burst out of the car (no seatbelts then) and run to the faded red Coca-Cola machine, slip my nickel in, press down on the big lever, and plop, out came a six-ounce bottle of Coke.
On my first swig from that chipped and beaten-up, greenish bottle, I’d get a mouthful of that wonderful Coca-Cola. The fizz would come out of my nose and squeeze past my lips; it was awesome!
However, every few years, Coca-Cola’s bottles, then cans, and then self-serve cups got larger and larger. Now I can go to a gas station and walk out with a 32 oz cup of Coke, and I can finish it off before I get home, never once experiencing fizz through my nose and mouth. Sadly, I will finish it off without a second thought.
That’s how the law of diminishing returns works. Sadly, a large portion of our economy depends on this economic law. But we, as Christians, have a different “law” at work within us.
Increasing Returns
2 Corinthians 3:18 (ESV), “And we all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another. For this comes from the Lord who is the Spirit.“
This growth is a moral and spiritual transformation “from one degree of glory to another.” We are being progressively restored to greater and greater possession of the image of God which was corrupted at the fall of Adam. – Reformation Study Bible
Now we know that when we received Jesus as our Savior, the Holy Spirit (i.e., the Spirit) is continually building inside us and moving us closer and closer to the image of God that was Adam before he sinned. That’s what I call the law of increasing returns. Praise God!
Photo credit: drocpsu on VisualHunt / CC BY-NC-ND
You may like:
https://rockexcavationservice.org/2019/09/13/devine-appointment/