Remember this: Whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and whoever sows generously will also reap generously. Each of you should give what you have decided in your heart to give, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver. 2 Corinthians 9:6-7
“So giving money to others may make us happy, at least according to one study, but does being happy make us give? It just might, according to a different study by the same researchers. In this study, 51 people were randomly assigned to recall and describe the last time they spent 20 or 100 dollars on themselves or someone else. They next reported their current level of happiness. Participants then anonymously chose whether they wanted to spend money provided by the experimenters on themselves or someone else—whichever they thought would make them the happiest.
As in previous studies, people felt happier after remembering a time they had spent money on others, and people who had reported feeling happier were more likely to choose to spend money on someone else. Importantly, it was not that remembering spending money on others led people to be generous in the future—happiness was the key mediating factor (i.e., people who reported great happiness from spending on themselves were also more likely to spend money one someone else). These results suggest a positive feedback loop between generosity and happiness: giving can make people happy, which can encourage them to give again.
Importantly, almost all of the aforementioned studies that have explored the connection between giving and happiness have used participants from WEIRD (Western, Educated, Industrialized, Rich, and Democratic) countries, raising the question of whether the connection is a universal psychological phenomenon or a culturally determined one.
A study designed to answer this question found that the emotional reward people experience in response to giving to others may be universal. Survey data from 136 countries showed that people who had reported giving to charity in the past year reported greater happiness, even after controlling for potential confounds such as household income, age, gender, marital status, education, and food inadequacy. In fact, the happiness derived from donating to charity was on par with the level of happiness associated with a doubling of one’s household income.”
Summer Allen in “The Science of Generosity” White Paper produced by the Greater Good Science Center.
Love this! As a WEIRD (Western, Educated, Industrialized, Rich, and Democratic) person serving in a non-WEIRD place, Costa Rica, the research shows that the message of generosity brings joy regardless of socioeconomic status.
And people don’t figure it out (because it’s counterintuitive to our flesh) until they live it out that generous sowing results in both cheerfulness and generous reaping: equal to the joy of having your income double.
Think about what this finding reveals. We discover in giving that we don’t end up empty, but rather, enriched. We don’t become destitute, but discover our role is to distribute. What does this mean for you as you read this?
Consider this week, whether you come from a WEIRD country or not: How you might God want you to be, as C.S. Lewis put it, “surprised by joy,” by giving to some person or some organization that you least expected?
For GTP we have a proverbial doubleheader today. Delivering biblical teaching and facilitating “Stewardship and Standards” discussions in Cartago, Costa Rica, from 9am-1pm and in Alajuela, Costa Rica, from 6-9pm.
Pray for an abundance of stamina as we watch God build a coalition eager to form a peer accountability group (like ECFA in USA) among the influential workers in the four provinces of Costa Rica. It’s happening by God’s grace.