How To Really Be The Change You Want To See In The World

There is an infamous experiment that was done at Princeton known as the Good Samaritan test. Theology students were called into an office and told they had to give a speech across campus. As the students headed to the building where they were to give their speech they literally had to step over a homeless man dressed in ragged clothing, sitting on the steps.

The experiment was conducted to see how many students would stop and offer this man help. The majority, some 63%, did indeed take time to check on this man. That is until the experimenters added a small detail; they began telling students “you are late.”

When students believed they were running behind schedule, only 10% took a moment to attend to the beggar. The conclusion reached is that we will often help someone until it is too inconvenient.

During the holiday season it is often said that we buy gifts with money we don’t have for people we don’t like, and in the process we end up deeper in debt. In fact, though many people have higher salaries than ever before, Parkinson’s Law states that, “Expenses will always rise in direct proportion to income.” In short, the more we make the more we spend, and our debt just gets bigger.

In fact, the average savings account per citizen has stayed around $2000 for years. Rather than increasing our savings account we just spend the extra money we make.

Two principles that would be great to adopt in our finances as we enter 2020 are ruthlessly eliminating debt, and giving 10% of our salary to those in need. As Paul said, “You will be made rich in every way so that you can be generous on every occasion” (2 Corinthians 9:11).

Indeed, giving away part of our money is a spiritual act that is healthy for the soul and for the world. As George Clason notes, it teaches our mind “that there is enough.”

People often think that when they get to a certain place financially then they will begin to help those in need. But as Tony Robbins notes, which is easier, to give $1 out of $100, or to give $100,000 out of $1 million? The reality is that if we are not generous when we have only a little, we won’t be generous when we have an abundance.

Bjorn Lomborg notes a recent UN report that states, “Few people realize the great advances already made. In the past 50 years poverty has fallen more than in the previous 500.”

While this is indeed worth celebrating, in a world where some three billion people live on less than two dollars a day, there is still much work to do. And while most Americans fall into the richest 1% of the world’s population with at least $25,000 per household, our giving has not always reflected our deepest values.

Sociologist Tony Compolo used to rock the boat at different chapels by sharing; “The United Nations reports that over 10,000 people starved to death today, and most of you don’t care.” Then he would swear. After waiting a moment he would continue, “What is even more tragic is that most of you are more concerned that I just used a swear word, than that 10,000 people died of starvation today.”

So as we move into 2020 may we change some of our financial habits and learn to be more giving, paying attention to those in need around us, even when it is inconvenient. As Ronald Sider notes, “We cannot gain happiness by seeking it directly. It comes as a by-product as we give ourselves to others.”