Upside Down Kings

The Two Meanings of Yield (and Why It Matters)

• Joshua Wilson

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What does a deal sheet have in common with a yield sign at an intersection? One word — and two meanings that look like opposites.

In this short solo episode, Joshua Wilson shares something God's been showing him about the word "yield." In his world of investment banking, yield measures what comes back on your money — the return you're hoping for when you hand over control of it. But the same word has a second meaning hiding in plain sight: to stop, to surrender, to give way. Through the mind of Christ, those two meanings collide. Looking at Galatians 5 and the fruit of the Spirit, Joshua wrestles with an upside-down truth: the real return isn't the one you engineer by gripping harder. It's the fruit that grows when you finally let go and yield your life to God.

In this episode:

  • Why "yield" shows up everywhere in investing — APY, deal sheets, return on investment
  • The investor's bargain: handing over control of your money in hope of getting more back
  • The risk no yield can erase, and what that teaches us
  • The second meaning of yield — stop, surrender, give way
  • The question every investor asks, turned upside down
  • Seeing an ordinary word through the mind of Christ
  • Galatians 5 and the fruit of the Spirit — and why it's "fruit," singular
  • The upside-down truth: fruit grows from surrender, not striving
  • We are all investors of our time, energy, and attention
  • A closing prayer to yield your life, your way, and your outcomes to God

Upside-Down Kings is a publication of One Iron Network. Learn more at oneironnetwork.com.

Upside-Down Kings is for educational and informational purposes only and is not financial, investment, or legal advice.

Joshua Wilson:

Today, we're gonna talk about the word yield. Now, you see the word show up in the world of finance, like on your credit card statements. You'll see it as APY. But you'll also see it in my world of investment banking, almost on every deal sheet. It's a number that answers the question, "What do I get as investor?" You hand your money to someone else as an investor. You give up control of it for a while.

Yield is what comes back:

your money plus more. Doesn't always happen, and that's the risk of investing. But the fruit of the investment is how we measure whether something's worth it or not. What will it yield me? Right? So, but yield also means something else. We'll see it, in the world of finance and investing, but yield means something else too. Yield is at an intersection. Yield means to stop, surrender, give way. On one hand, it's like the investor yielding their money from their way to another person's way because they believe it answers this question: that if I-- "Why should I invest my money with you rather than anyone else or not at all?" Through Christ, we start seeing this word come through a new set of eyes, an eternal mind. Scripture says that we now have the mind of Christ if you're a follower of Christ. So let me talk to you about a different type of yield. Galatians chapter five, the fruit of the Spirit. I love this. Love, joy, peace, long-suffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. Notice it's fruit, singular, not a menu you pick from. One life that the Spirit grows. And here's the upside-down part. That fruit isn't the return you engineer by gripping harder into things, trying harder. It's what you get from yielding to the Holy Spirit. When you surrender control, what the world is, what the world chases, when you surrender those things, these are the things that start popping up in your life. Before we go, let's pray. Heavenly Father, we come to you humbly through the name of Jesus Christ, the King of Kings, the Lord of Lords, and we ask for you to show us through your Holy Spirit how we can yield our lives and our way and our outcomes to you. Put it in your hands. It's far better in your hands than in ours. We ask you these things in the name of Jesus. Amen.