Materialism is Harmful for Marriages

God’s wisdom is, once again, supported by man’s discovery.  According to a recent Brigham Young University news release, scholars at BYU studied 1,734 married couples across the country.  Each couple completed a relationship evaluation, part of which asked how much they value “having money and lots of things.”  The researchers’ statistical analysis showed that couples who say money is not important to them score about 10 to 15 percent better on marriage stability and other measures of relationship quality than couples where one or both are materialistic.  “Couples where both spouses are materialistic were worse off on nearly every measure we looked at,” said Jason Carroll, a BYU professor of family life and lead author of the study.  He continues, “There is a pervasive pattern in the data of eroding communication, poor conflict resolution and low responsiveness to each other.  How these couples perceive their finances seems to be more important to their marital health than their actual financial situation.”

Godliness with contentment is great gain.  For we brought nothing into the world, and we can take nothing out of it.  But if we have food and clothing, we will be content with that.  People who want to get rich fall into temptation and a trap and into many foolish and harmful desires that plunge men into ruin and destruction.  For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil.  Some people, eager for money, have wandered from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs. (1 Timothy 6:6-10)

Paul’s inspired advice on the subject of materialism is quite to the point: a materialistic mindset will cause negative results in your life.  A materialistic person has an undo regard for worldly concerns.  This person is focused on short-term satisfaction and achievements, while neglecting long-term fulfillment.  The materialistic person is thinking physically, not spiritually.

When materialistic priorities find fertile ground they take root.  Unfortunately, as the Lord warned us, materialistic roots will bear evil fruits.  Goals and plans and expectations will all be influenced by the insatiable desire for “more.”  Enough is never enough.  The evil root of loving money can cause undesirable conditions, such as: overextended debt obligations, neglected or injured relationships, anxiety-induced health issues, and wandering faith.  Interestingly, according to an ABC News review of the survey, “The correlation between materialism and marital difficulties remained stable regardless of the actual wealth of the couple…  it (the survey) may simply mean that people who are more focused on making money have less energy and interest left to invest in their marriages.”  Once again, it is not the possession of money that is causing the problems.  It is the love of money, materialism, which is a root of all kinds of evil.

Focusing on godliness and being content will achieve true long-term fulfillment and satisfaction.  The contented person is satisfied.  He is not chasing after “more.”  Are your physical needs being met?  Great, that should be enough.  You arrived with nothing, you’ll leave with nothing.  Don’t buy into the materialistic mantra, “What have you done for me lately?”  The spiritual mind is mature and aware of the temptations and traps that grow out of an evil root.  

Carl  Smith
Stephenville, Texas