The money is it the happiness ?

"There is a painful evil that I have seen under the sun: riches are kept to their masters to their detriment." Ecclesiastes 5:13

"Money does not make happiness, but it contributes to it. In one form or another, this maxim is often quoted. But is it so true ? Social scientists have studied the links between money and happiness ; They have established that, starting from a certain threshold, the improvement of the material living conditions of individuals no longer increases their personal satisfaction. Wanting more and more people in an endless race.

On the other hand, research in neuroscience shows that altruistic behavior generates more well-being for the giving than for the recipient. The brain area that responds to pleasure is stimulated when we are generous.

Moreover, this generosity may not be merely monetary: from the time given to a cause for a voluntary activity falls into the same category and generates the same type of pleasure.

Two of the world's wealthiest men, Bill Gates and Warren Buffett, have committed to giving almost all of their immense fortune during their lifetime. One of their friends, the heir of the Rockefeller family, testified : "For five generations, my family has experienced the satisfaction and pleasure of philanthropy."

The Christian is not surprised by such "discoveries." But he is pleased to see that they confirm what he had already read in his Bible. "He who loves money is not satisfied with money, and he who loves wealth is not satisfied with income." (Ecc. He remembers that his Master had said : "He is more fortunate to give than to receive" (Acts 20:35). Jesus himself is the unique and extreme example of one who, being the rich, infinitely rich Creator of the universe, has shown unparalleled generosity in making himself poor for us (2 Cor 8: 9). In our turn to imitate it by being generous to give, according to our financial means or according to the time we have available. And we will find experimentally what the Bible affirms and that scientific research tends to prove: to give makes happy !

Source (To pleasing the Lord)