How Much Money Do You Need?

You have planted much but harvest little. You eat but are not satisfied. You drink but are still thirsty. You put on clothes but cannot keep warm. Your wages disappear as though you were putting them in pockets filled with holes!

Haggai 1:6

Do you have enough money? Think about your answer. If not, would another 20 percent more income do the trick for you two? Would you then be satisfied?

No matter how much a couple has, they almost always believe a little bit more would be just enough. In fact, studies have shown that most couples believe they would be happier if their income were 20 percent higher. Of course, 20 percent more will never satisfy, at least not for long. As our increases are absorbed into the living standard, expectations rise and the cycle needs repeating.

Above a certain subsistence level, which varies with the life stage of each couple, happiness in marriage depends not on the quantity of money but on the quality of the relationship. And this is true at all stages of life: for richer, for poorer. That’s why this passage from the Old Testament book of Haggai urges us to consider whether we will ever have enough. The writer of Ecclesiastes agrees: “Better to have one handful with quietness than two handfuls with hard work and chasing the wind” (Ecclesiastes 4:6; see also Proverbs 15:17; 17:1).

So whether you are living in a one-bedroom apartment and praying that your monthly income will outlast the month, or like Rockefeller you’ll consider your wealth sufficient when you have “just one dollar more,” remember these wise words: “Don’t wear yourself out trying to get rich. Be wise enough to know when to quit. In the blink of an eye wealth disappears, for it will sprout wings and fly away like an eagle” (Proverbs 23:4-5). It is far more rewarding to put your hope in God, “who richly gives us all we need for our enjoyment” (1 Timothy 6:17).

Money never made a man happy yet, nor will it. . . . The more a man has, the more he wants. Instead of filling a vacuum, it makes one.

—David Alfred Doudney

From the book