Here’s a surprising statistic: Couples who tend to be more materialistic in their lifestyle have lots of other problems as well. 

According to USAToday (Oct. 14, 2011), researchers at Brigham Young University have discovered that focusing on money and things “can take a toll on couples’ happiness and stability.”

Jason Carroll, lead author of the study and a professor of family life, explains, “Couples where both spouses are materialistic were worse off on nearly every measure we looked at.” He added, “There is a pervasive pattern in the data of eroding communication, poor conflict resolution and low responsiveness to each other.” 

So people whose primary motivation in life is to accumulate wealth and things don’t communicate well. They have difficulty settling differences – probably a good deal of anger and name-calling involved there. They don’t care about one another all that much. And, as a result, their marriages tend to be less stable. 

The report adds, “The study results also showed that when both members of a couple are materialistic, the relationship is in more trouble than when just one person places a high value on money and possessions.”

So, what are we learning from the latest social science research? That having money and things as a priority can lead you to care less about those closest to you, can inhibit your ability to communicate with your spouse, and can ruin your marriage. Those don’t sound like the kinds of things people hope for when they decide to get married.

They sound, well, like evils.

Could it be that the love of money is a root of all kinds of evils? Could this be yet another example of social science catching up to the eternal wisdom of God?

I suppose we should be encouraged to find yet another example of science confirming something Christians have known for centuries. I’m reminded of something Dr. Robert Jastrow wrote many years ago. He was the director of the Goddard Space Lab, and not a believer. But he mused on the progress science was making in scaling the mountain of knowledge, and how, very often along the way, science seems to be just catching up to where religion has been for a long time.

He contemplated the day when scientists, like intrepid mountain climbers, would be just about to achieve the last height of all knowing. As they pulled themselves up over the final ledge they could expect to find, he suggested, “a band of theologians who have been sitting there for years.” 

Perhaps that’s part of the problem. Perhaps if we Christians knew the Word of God better and had more confidence in it, we would be more active in living and proclaiming its wisdom, so that our contemporaries don’t have to wait for science to catch up to Scripture, but they can learn from our lives and testimonies.

We’ve known all along that the love of money breeds lots of other evils. What else do we know that we should be sharing with our neighbors, but aren’t?

Related texts: 1 Timothy 6.9, 10; 1 John 2.15-17; Revelation 3.15-19

A conversation starter: “Wow, here’s a study that says the love of money really is a root of all kinds of evil. What do you make of that?”

T. M. Moore, This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.