Can a person have joy without having any money or material wealth?
Yes, joy can exist without money or material wealth. The example of the Depression generation and the poor believers in Greece shows people can be poor, lacking money and material things, yet still be happy. Their joy came from being set free by the Gospel, not from possessions.
Les explains that this is something America no longer understands: there can be joy without material wealth. He points to the 1930s Depression, when people had no money—none for anything—yet they were not as downtrodden and depressed as many today; they were happy. They were poor but didn’t know it, as his dad said about farming with horses: “we didn’t know any better.” Similarly, the poor believers in Greece had nothing materially, but had all kinds of joy and happiness because they had been removed from paganism, its superstition and fear, and set free by the Gospel. Even in a great trial of affliction, their deep poverty abounded unto the riches of their liberality, and they gave liberally.
How that in a great trial of affliction the abundance of their joy and their deep poverty abounded unto the riches of their liberality.