That’s the question discussed in this message by Reverend Mark Adams, Senior pastor of Redland Baptist Church in Rockville, Maryland:
Does money really buy happiness? Studies by a generation of behavioral scientists show that material goods usually don’t deliver lasting happiness. But there is one way that money can buy a form of happiness: when you spend money with, and for, others. Researchers call this phenomenon a “buying experience.” Think of treating someone to a special meal, a sports game, or a concert. Dozens of studies show that these buying experiences bring us closer to other people and bring us more happiness than spending money on ourselves.
Elizabeth Dunn and Michael Norton, a pair of researchers who authored the book Happy Money, reported on the following experiment:
“We handed out Starbucks gift cards on a university campus [and] told some people to head to Starbucks and buy something for themselves. We told others to pass their gift card along to someone else. And we told a third group of people to use the gift card to buy something for someone else—with the additional requirement that they actually hang out with that person at Starbucks.”
In an article in the LA Times, Dunn and Norton reported their conclusions: “Who was happiest? Those who treated someone else and shared in that experience with them. So the cost of increasing your happiness may be as cheap as two cups of coffee.”
This is a Biblical principle. Proverbs 11:25 says, “A generous man will prosper; he who refreshes others will himself be refreshed.” In Luke 6:38 and Acts 20:35 Jesus said, “Give and it will be given to you, a good measure, pressed down, shaken together and running over, will be poured into your lap. For with the measure you use, it will be measured to you…It is more blessed to give than it is to receive.”
Try your own experiment. Ask God to show you someone in need of a friend. Then take some of the money God has blessed you with and buy something for and with that person. Share a meal or a cup of coffee. See if God doesn’t do as He promises—and bless you right back such that your “cup of happiness” is filled to overflowing.
© 2013 Mark Adams
Get Your Attention?
Every time I see a church sign with an interesting message, I try to make note of it … and have gathered quite a few over the years. However, the church signs that most distress me are the ones that receive little attention. I see some that haven’t been cleaned in years, along with not having a new message posted. Then there’s a church not far from where I live where one year, Easter was approaching and the sign still displayed the time for the Christmas Eve service.
Here’s a couple that I might have posted at some time in the past, but I feel gets one’s attention:
Miscellany . . .
Bumper sticker for the times:
Want to see God? Keep texting while driving!
And, the message below appeared under the name on an E-mail I recently received from a listener to my other channel, Escape Channel 69. Just think … if all God’s people on this earth would begin to follow this creed, what a wonderful world we’d have:
Remember the three R’s:
Respect for self;
Respect for others;
and … Responsibility for all your actions!
Marlin
