You’re probably familiar with the following question often the subject of study and discussion: Can money buy happiness? In fact, if you Google the question you’ll run across articles and perhaps research trying to determine the answer.
In most cases, at least in what I’ve read, researched, and experienced, the answer to the question in general is no. But I’ve read some studies which point out the answer is yes, to a certain point. In other words, once basic needs (food, clothing, shelter) have been met, having more money doesn’t really make people any happier.
However, one study I came across says that money can actually bring happiness beyond meeting basic needs if you’re using money for giving and for entertainment such as taking a vacation. The experience you receive with your money for a vacation results in greater happiness. And with giving people are more selfless, which generates some feeling of happiness.
A more worthwhile topic
This is all fine, but it wasn’t until just recently I realized a more interesting and worthwhile topic to explore. I think it’s how our finances related to joy (not happiness). After listening to Warren Jacobs, the worship director at my church, speak at our men’s Bible study; I understood the difference between happiness and joy.
Happiness
Happiness is related to an event (something happens). It’s when certain circumstances occur in a way that we feel are favorable.
For example…
- I work hard to get a job promotion and pay raise. I receive it and now I’m happy.
- I’ve always wanted a brand new big screen TV and now that I have one, I’m happy.
- I got out of debt and well, now I’m happy.
But do all of these things make us more joyful?
I believe that such results of happiness, as described above, are temporary. The happiness will run out and then there will be a new pursuit to find more happiness elsewhere. So, why even ask the question: will money buy happiness? Who cares! It’s not an everlasting feeling like joy.
Joy
Joy is a much deeper feeling that we can only receive from God. It’s much more worthy of our pursuit and attention. Philippians 3:1 tells us to “rejoice in the Lord.” God is the source of Christian joy.
Rather, we should be exploring joy in every aspect of our lives, including our finances. And, if you’re a Christian, joy can be present in anything, including difficult financial situations.
Joy in difficult situations
But, you may ask: how can I be joyful if I’m facing financial struggles? Or, to be more specific:
- How can I find joy in being in more debt than I know how to manage?
- How can I find joy when I just got laid off from your job and I’m not quite sure how I’m going to pay next month’s mortgage?
- How can I be joyful if I just lost most of my retirement investments when the stock market crashed?
An example of joy during financial struggle
The important thing to remember is God is present in our struggles. And if God is with us, we can certainly find joy.
Let me give you an example. A few years ago I was laid off from my job. We hadn’t done a very good job of saving for such emergencies, so there really was no money to fall back on if I didn’t get a job in the next few months. My severance would only help us for a short amount of time.
Strangely enough, this was one of the more joyful time periods in my life. Why? I came to realize I only had two approaches: 1) carry the entire weight of the situation on my own shoulders which would result in more stress and probably some panic, or 2) Do everything I could to find a job, but ultimately let God carry the weight for me through my trust in Him.
What was the result? I found great joy and peace in what was a real financial struggle because of my strong faith. I became encouraged about what God had planned for me. I rejoiced in Him! It was actually one of the more peaceful times in my life because my focus and dependency became entirely on God and not myself.
Practical steps in pursuing joy
So, what are some practical steps to help you find joy? I heard some great ideas from Warren while he spoke:
1. Submit yourself to God. As I did, realize God is in control and you can find the joy, peace and comfort in almost any situation.
2. See God in everything. If God is with us in our struggles, then he is everywhere. If God, Himself is joy, we can find joy in absolutely everything. You can be engaged in your situation or a conversation, but have God in your thoughts.
3. Contend what kills your joy. Yes, you have to fight and make changes. For me, I realized recently that one of the things that tries to compete or stifle God’s joy in my life is my life’s pace. Therefore, I have to learn to say no to certain things and slow down so that I can experience the true joy in what God is doing in my life.
Can you find joy while being in debt, having lost a job or having lost investments? While happiness may be absent around those situations, you can still be joyful.
Be joyful always; pray continually, give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus. (1 Thessalonians 5: 16-18)
A final thought
Warren wrapped up his discussion with a couple of important points. Depression and difficult struggles are real. They shouldn’t be taken lightly, or you shouldn’t think you have to go at them alone. Sometimes help is needed and that’s okay. If this is you, please seek Christian counseling through your church to discuss your situation.
What are your thoughts on the differences described between happiness and joy? How do you think relates to your finances?
{ 19 comments… read them below or add one }
I’ve observed some people in my family or among my friends, who made bad decisions financially, in their marriage, and life in general, because they weren’t “happy”. Later, they came to see the difference between happiness and joy, but they paid a high price.
Great post, Jason!
Though I feel joyful, I haven’t had very many bad things happen to me. I hope what I feel to be joy isn’t, in fact, mere happiness.
I knew where you were going with this as soon as I read the title! Happiness is temporary and based on circumstances. If money can by happiness then you are only happy as long as the money is there. True joy, on the other hand, comes from the Lord and is not based on things, situations or circumstances.
The Joy of the Lord IS MY STRENGTH!
Of course, this doesn’t mean there won’t be difficult days or trying times…but it is in those times where we can shift our focus on HIM and still find joy and peace in the midst of storms.
Great points Jason! I have a similar story with 3 job layoffs in 6 years. With the last one being at the end of 2008. Each time presented it’s own challenges but what got me and family thru each lay off was exactly what you talked about. Staying encouraged and keeping our focus on God! A simple question that I always ask is “Ok, Lord what’s next!”
And definitely agree with Lakita! “The joy of the Lord (not money) is my strength!”
Thank for the blog. You hit it right on the head. Great practical tips. I will try to incorporate them in my life.
Great post. This really speaks to me since I’m facing a 2nd pay cut in 6 months. His joy is my strength. He will be with my family and see us through it.
Rich, thanks for sharing. Yes, unfortunately, the pursuite of happiness can lead people into making unwise decisions in their lives in all sorts of areas. Glad to hear they know the difference now!
Funny, Andrew.
If you’re following those 3 steps, you’re most likely a joyful person.
Lakita, well said. And He is my strength too!
Carlos, I’m thankful I can help others find the true source of strength in God through their struggles by sharing this story. And it sounds like you have the same opportunity.
Christian Debt Reduction, thank you. I’m glad to hear you found this helpful!
Ken, sorry to hear that. Continue to trust in God to provide. He will meet your needs.
Good post Jason. Money can buy stuff which may make a person “feel” happy for at short time. But it don’t last. I can prove it don’t make you happy… just look at some of the wealthy celebrities that have money and fame, but are miserable.
J- your final thought is a great one that needs to be stressed. Too often we think that as Christians we need to be some kind of “nothing ever affects me” robot!
You read through the Psalms and you can just sense the writers’ pain and anguish and in many cases despair. But then you also get the sense that they trust in God more than anything in the world and they know who their Maker is!
It’s OK to be down, discouraged and dare I say – dysfunctional, BUT it’s NOT OK to stay there! Once we realize what’s going on we need to take steps to move forward – be it thru submission to the Lord, counseling, godly friends, accountability groups and contending for our joy etc.
Great points about happiness, joy and wealth. This is one of my favorite topics to blog & read about! Great job.
Money might not make you happy but it can remove some of the things that make you unhappy or stressed. Debts, worrying about whether you will lose your home, stress about how you will pay that next bill, etc, are all things that can make you unhappy, and which money can help with.
If you know about Maslow’s hierarchy of needs then you might be able to see that money will help you with the physiological and and safety needs. It won’t however help you with the higher level needs of love/belonging, esteem and self-actualisation.
“Submit yourself to God. As I did, realize God is in control and you can find the joy, peace and comfort in almost any situation”
So true! As each day goes by I get the impression that I am going to do this whether or not I want to do this or not so I might as well do it.
this is a great question , i feel it doesn’t buy happiness but it does make life a little bit easier
and i agrree with the difference in happiness and joy. I am currently taking a biblical financial workshop through my church. Awesome 1 book ,2 activity books by CRown Financial Ministries ,the book I recomend is “your money counts-by howard dayton” it is the biblical guide to earning , spending , investing giving and getting out of debt, savings etc simple reading . did you know jesus spoke more on money and possesions than any other subjectg? 16 of the 38 parables were on money and possesions, also there is about 500 verses on faith , the same on prayer and over 2300 on money and possesions! besides the fact 72% of America is financialy illiterate according to Harvard , this is a national crisis and needs to be addressed. I promote financial education. King Soloman stated” just as the rich rule the poor, so the borrower is servant to the poor” Romans 13:8 “owe no man anything” how can we possibly serve the lord housing all this debt and sucking down all of the disposable income, it is like cancer in your finances, but through the struggles rejoice in the lord , jehovah-jireh ( our lord who provides, know this with your heart and tommorrow is a new day
I love the contrast you show between happiness and joy. I’ve never heard someone explain the difference, so thank you! Amazing insight here Mr. Price. I’m looking forward to reading more articles from you.
I suppose now the old song will have to be rewritten: “If you’re joyful and you know it clap your hands”. Only kidding.
I’ve heard it said, “Money can’t buy happiness, but it sure makes it more comfortable when you’re miserable.” This post challenges that thought. When we ‘fear, love and trust in God above all things’ (a phrase from Martin Luther) then how can a person be miserable?
And yet we are often miserable. It’s hard to imagine anyone in American in misery for lack of material things. We’ve got a pretty generous social welfare system compared to many countries, yet how often have missionaries come back to tell my church of the joy of Christians in third world living conditions who are singing God’s praises at the construction of their first 1-room cinderblock church? Compare that to the miserable shufflers we often are in when we pull up to our multimillion $$$ mega churches in our late-model SUVs and I think we get a good perspective on what truly brings joy to a person.
Joy and money are separate issues. The Christian’s challenge is to bring this message to those who do not yet know the joy of Christ, and I include a fair number of people in my congregation in that number. It’s not just the ‘unchurched’ who need the joy of Christ: it’s also your spouse, your kids, the guy sitting in the pew behind you.
Well said Jason,
And it is hard to get joy on your own- it is indeed a fruit of the Holy Spirit according to Galatians 5:22-23 “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. against such things there is no law”
Therefore until we can connect with the Spirit of God, everything we feel like joy is still the temporal happiness.
Thanks everyone for the great comments and for providing such good insight on the post here.
Financial bondage, I actually thought of those who have worked so hard to get “on top” to find happiness, but found it wasn’t there after they arrived.
Joseph, awesome insight. Thanks for mentioning fruit of the spirity. Yes, joy is one of them!
Jason, thanks for the echo on “getting help” or “moving forward”. I think the key thing to remember is that struggles are real and it’s okay to get help to move past them. Sometimes, people can purposefully pursue joy filled lives, but need a Christian counselor to help them get there.
As Erik states above…
“If you’re joyful and you know it clap your hands.”
God is really in control…yes money could do a lot of things but sometimes there are cases that it also bring trouble and weariness. I’m not a hypocrite to say I don’t want to be rich or earn more than I do now…but then I learn something from an old friend, “don’t desire anything you will regret in the end”. We get laid off, we have so little to pay off all our debts or bring our kids to school but then God will always make a way for us…inner happiness can’t be bought, same with love and loyalty.
Great post. Simply love it.
Does Money Bring Happiness?
Does money bring happiness? Hum…that’s an interesting question. First, let’s define happiness. Webster’s dictionary states that happiness is defined as a state of well-being or contentment. So, if money does bring happiness then the rich person or those with lots of money never have a sad day in their life, right? I mean, if something bad happened one day to the person who has the most money then somehow they could use the money to bring them happiness in that situation, right?
Yes, I know—that sounds crazy, doesn’t it? Okay, let’s get a little more serious here. I suppose I could use money to buy me a beautiful ranch home in the country and have a euphoria or happiness state for a certain amount of time. But what happens when the happy-happy state wears off and my dog dies and my cat gets run over by the train passing through?
Money is truly overrated and quite frankly so is happiness. Happiness is a fleeting thing. Happiness is not eternal nor is it lasting. Think about it-we’re happy when we get a promotion; we’re happy when we get brownie points; we’re happy when we’re appreciated and told so; we’re happy when life is problem-free and our days are not interrupted with negative events. So, are we happy when we get demoted; lose a spouse; lose a pet; or just have a really terrible day? Do we need money to buy or bring that happiness back?
I suppose-in a sense-money can bring happiness. You see, money AND happiness are both fleeting; so I guess you could say that they DO go hand in hand. Since happiness is a state of mind that depends on our circumstances sometimes money can change our state of mind from sad to glad or from bored to excited and so on and so forth.
Now JOY is a completely different state. JOY is not fleeting but eternal and it can’t be bought; it stays within the human spirit because it’s not something that we FEEL based on our circumstances OR the amount of money that we possess. Joy is something that can only be received as a child of the KING. It’s not for sale; therefore it can’t be bought. Another great thing about joy is that it can’t be stolen either. Oh, another thing is that no matter what our circumstances are—whether our cat died; our car no longer carries us to places we need to be; or if a family member has died; we can still have joy deep down within our soul to sustain us through all these rough valleys that will come to pass in the life of a child of God. You see, joy doesn’t depend on money, circumstances, or what’s going on in our country but joy is something that the Lord puts in the heart of His children.
So, give me joy that will last through the good times and through the bad times. I want something solid. I want something lasting. I want something TRUE and something REAL. This comes only through the saving grace and blood of Jesus Christ.
Hi Jason, Interesting thoughts! I personally believe that it’s not possible to make a general statement on whether money makes people more or less happy. Money comes with a whole set of new elements that may have good or bad impact on our happiness, and depending on how susceptible we are to every one of them, the conclusion will go one way or the other (i.e. different from person to person). I recently made an effort to provide a more comprehensive picture of what these ad- and disadvantages are.
Thank you, Nick