Law of Increasing Returns

During my freshman year in college, I had to take a course in basic Economics.  Unfortunately, not too much of it stuck with me.  The only things that I remember were that the professor, Stanford something, wrote the textbook, and the Law of Diminishing Returns. Maybe you are familiar with the term, if not, let me fill you in.

* “The law of diminishing returns (also law of diminishing marginal returns or law of increasing relative cost) states that in all productive processes, adding more of one factor of production, while holding all others constant, will at some point yield lower per-unit returns. For example, the use of fertilizer improves crop production on farms and in gardens; but at some point, adding more and more fertilizer improves the yield less per unit of fertilizer, and excessive quantities can even reduce the yield. A common sort of example is adding more workers to a job, such as assembling a car on a factory floor. At some point, adding more workers causes problems such as getting in each other's way, or workers frequently find themselves waiting for access to a part. In all of these processes, producing one more unit of output per unit of time will eventually cost increasingly more, due to inputs being used less and less effectively.” (Wikipedia)

You can see where the problem arises, simply put,  too much of a good thing results in decreased returns .  Where am I going with this, you might wisely ask, well I’ll tell you. While this law may hold true, in human situations, you can never have too much of God.

In the book of Acts, we find a snapshot detailing what was going on in the early Christian church.  “All the believers devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching, and to fellowship, and to sharing in meals (including the Lord’s Supper), and to prayer. A deep sense of awe came over them all, and the apostles performed many miraculous signs and wonders. And all the believers met together in one place and shared everything they had. They sold their property and possessions and shared the money with those in need. They worshiped together at the Temple each day, met in homes for the Lord’s Supper, and shared their meals with great joy and generosity—all the while praising God and enjoying the goodwill of all the people. And each day the Lord added to their fellowship those who were being saved.” Acts 2:42-47.

 It’s hard to imagine this happening today, in our “spiritually enlightened” churches, but wouldn't it be fantastic? ALL the believers were sharing, giving, learning, and excited to see what God was going to do next.  Rather than diminishing, God continually added. Oh, what a joy it would be if we could be more like those folks.  The good news is, WE CAN!!  Start adding more to your life in Christ, then reap the rewards from God’s law of increasing returns!!