Compound Interest
By Grant Gaines
It’s been called the eighth wonder of the world by the smartest man to ever live – Albert Einstein. Compound interest is one of those things that doesn’t make a whole lot of sense but if you have a savings account that offers compound interest, you’re not going to complain!
In a nutshell, compound interest allows you to start saving a reasonably small amount of money that will snowball into a surprisingly large sum of money by the time you pull your money out of your savings account. Take the following scenario for example: Michael saved $1,000 every month for 10 years in a compound interest savings account starting when he was 25 and then stopped putting money into his account when he was 35. Jenny saved the same amount of money over the same period of time but she waited to start saving until she was 35. Jake also saved $1,000 per month for 10 years but waited to start when he was 45.
All three people in this scenario saved $120,000 over a ten year period then waited to take the money out when they were 65. However, despite the fact that they all put in the same amount of money into a savings account, because of compounding interest their ending balances were drastically different. Jake’s ending balance was $373,407, Jenny’s was $734,549, and Michael’s was $1,444,969!
Michael nearly doubled Jenny’s savings and almost quadrupled Jake’s balance all because he started investing a small amount of money early1. Small investments lead to big results when you’re dealing with compound interest.
That’s one of the key ideas Christ was trying to communicate in His “Parable of the Sower” found in Matthew 13. The story begins with a farmer sowing seed into different types of soil and ends by saying, “Still other seed fell on good soil, where it produced a crop – a hundred, sixty, or thirty times what was sown” (Matthew 13:8, NIV). Small beginnings lead to big results when you’re dealing with a God who operates in the realm of compound interest.
Think about a seed for a moment. Let’s just say it’s a kernel of corn so we’re all on the same page. Can you picture how small that seed is in your mind? Pretty small, isn’t it? But despite its puny size right now, after it is planted and grown, a big ear of corn will shoot up from the ground. Something that was once so small is now a tasty treat at a summer BBQ.
And one more question. Did that single kernel of corn that the farmer planted produce just one ear of corn? No, of course not! Each seed produces multiple ears of corn when harvest season comes around. The passage we just read even says that some seeds will produce a harvest 30, 60, or even 100 times what was planted. Something that was once so small is now a field of crops ready to be made into a tasty basket of warm corn tortilla chips.
That’s the message Jesus wants us to see in this parable. When we do even the smallest good deed to those around us, we are inviting, “the Lord of the harvest” (Luke 10:2, NIV) to create an incredibly abundant harvest in the future.
Satan, however, knows this all too well and will do everything he can to distract you from looking forward to that plentiful harvest so you won’t continue to plant your seeds of goodwill towards others. I believe one of the most common ways he does this is by keeping you focused on how small the seed is currently rather than how big the harvest is going to be in the future. He’ll whisper in your ear, “What difference is it really going to make if you pray for or with your co-workers?” “How far can a tenth of your income really go if you give it to the church in today’s economy?” “You’re not really making a positive difference in your children’s lives. They’re still struggling with the same things they did last year. You might as well stop being so intentional with them.”
Lie after lie after lie. “Look at the size of the seed you’re planting,” Satan will often remind you. “It’s so small!”
But God, on the other hand, is more focused on the harvest than the seed. He wants you to be faithful with the little seed He has given you to plant so that He can make that seed fruitful. You focus on faithfulness, God will focus on fruitfulness. You do what you can with what you have and let God do what only He can do. As we are reminded in 1 Corinthians 3:7 (NIV), “Neither he who plants or waters is anything, but only God, who makes things grow.” We invest a little, God multiplies our efforts with compound interest.
Satan is telling you to look at the size of your seed while God wants you to focus on the hope of the harvest. Which are you focusing on today?
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©Grant Gaines 2013
