Money Can’t Buy…

…happiness, as the Chinese are finding, according to this report in the Guardian.

It’s interesting that this should come at the same time as the Government in this country is beginning tentatively to suggest that happiness is not inextricably linked to economic wealth; that (shock! horror!) you can be rich and sad, and poor and content.

The article on China suggests that the reason is an imbalance in wealth within the country; that although everyone has been getting wealthier, some have been getting much more wealthy than others: “Across China, people have rediscovered the well-rehearsed truth that material satisfaction is relative.”

I wasn’t aware that this was a “well-rehearsed truth”, although coveting something that isn’t yours, instead of enjoying what is, has been a problem since the Garden of Eden. Just ask Zacchaeus whether being the richest guy in town makes you happy.

If only there were a way to escape this view that everything comes down to material wealth. If only there were a “secret of being content in any and every situation … whether living in plenty or in want” (Philippians 4 v 12).

Paul knew the secret. It was to be able to say, and mean, that “for me, to live is Christ and to die is gain” (Philippians 1 v 21).

I’m not good at really meaning that. But I can see that, if I really lived that out, it wouldn’t matter at all to me whether I was “rich”, “poor”, or “poorer than them, but richer than them”.

Wonderfully, the church in China is growing at a stupendous rate, with thousands meeting the Christ who gives contentment each day. Perhaps that huge nation will start getting happier after all…