Day 1
Now godliness with contentment is great gain
Our discussion is about contentment. Successful people experience contentment.And it is a very important topic because several things happen when you do not have contentment. Many things actually start from there.
What is the last commandment? Of the Ten Commandments what is the tenth commandment? You shall not covet. That is the commandment we are discussing today in reverse. You can put the commandment , thou shall not covet, put it the other way, you shall be contented. It is the same commandment. The issue is how you approach it. Thou shall not covet or thou shall be contented have the same prerequisites.
And that is the beginning of our discussion, that when you are not contented, you are, one of the things you are sure to be doing is coveting. What do we mean by coveting? Coveting is desiring what belongs to another person. In the Ten Commandments ,the list includes somebody else’s wife, somebody’s donkey etc.. Now, these days they are not called donkeys, they are called cars. Now, you see somebody’s car and you say, aaah, I wish it was mine. That is called coveting. Yes , when you don’t have contentment, then you will get is coveting, which means desiring what belongs to another.
But that is not the only thing. If desire stayed in the heart, that would not be the problem, but the sin of stealing is impossible without coveting. You must first of all covet for something then steal it. You ask yourself, how come sister Kariuki has such a good pen? Now, surely, God I should also have a good pen. So the next time you borrow a pen from sister Kariuki, you tell her, give me a pen I will return. Later, you make yourself forget to return. When she comes for the pen you argue, surely, sister Kariuki, you can buy another pen. Why can’t you allow me to keep this one? That is called coveting. And the conclusion of that is sister Kariuki will start having a problem with you. So your relationship has been broken. It all came from coveting. People who covet don’t have real friends, they have only got fake friends.
You know there are people who, because they are friends, you want them to come for your party but you always tell them late so that you are hoping that they will be having something else to do so that they don’t turn up for the party..You know if they come, they see the size of your sons birthday cake , they will start coveting. So in order not to end in problems with them, you wish they don’t come. You know, when you have a good dress to wear and your friend is the coveting type, you don’t want them to be with you that day because if you have a good dress she will say something and your friendship will be broken.
If you have no contentment, your many relationships will be broken, but also you are likely to become a thief. What is the worst of all, you never enjoy your life. Iam reminded of a story, that I heard from the late Phoebe Kigira. She told the story of this lady and the husband who , since they started buying cars, they have always driven old ramshackle cars. Then they finally bought a proper Dubai, ‘second hand new’. Are you getting the point? It is new, but you know what I mean by new. One morning She was so happy they were going home to the village in Nyeri for the first time in a new car. So when they entered the car, and the husband was the one driving, and she is really looking forward to showing the village people how they have a new car, but she went quiet in the trip. The husband talks, her answers were in single syllables; yes, no. She was not involved. Those who know Nyeri route, once they were past Karatina, she finally sighed , aaah. Only two. So the husband asked, only two what? Only two my dear, only two. He said, only two what? Only two cars overtook us.
What does that tell you? The whole journey from Nairobi, the reason she couldn’t talk is because she was trying to test their car, whether the car can go faster than all the other cars. So the husband said, darling, why didn’t you tell me we were in a race? Even those two could not have overtaken us.
Day 2
It has always been my ambition to preach the gospel where Christ was not known, so that I would not be building on someone else’s foundation.
Reason we don’t have contentment, many of us are on a competition. The only trouble with this competition,no agreed rules. They don’t say, onto your marks, get set, go. So you are competing with people who are not even aware. You look at your dress and you feel, at least today Iam better dressed than all…nimemshinda. But if the others knew there was a competition they would have put on another one in their wardrobe. The only reason why you are dressed better is because she did not know you are on a competition. So meeting is not a fashion show. Now, you need to understand that if you don’t have contentment, you are in a competition. You visit somebody’s house, especially ladies, and they always like to help to take the things to the kitchen after a meal. So the husband think, my wife is kind. She is not kind, she wants to see what is in the kitchen. Once she is in the kitchen, she looks at the fridge, she looks at the cooker. My friend on your way home, once your wife gets into kitchen you will have no peace. She says, wait a minute. I thought you bought me a good cooker. But it cannot compare with mama Kariuki’s. Mama Kariuki’s is wonderful. Surely. You call yourself a man? You must get me a cooker like mama Kariuki’s.
Or the other way round, I went to their kitchen but they have nothing to compare with mine. They actually don’t have anything worth looking at. Darling, you are a great man.
Are you understanding the problem of lack of contentment. You are in a competition and the other competitors are not aware that you are in a competition. So you win with a competition that is never declared. In fact people have called it a rat race. Have you heard of that term? It is called the rat race. You leave campus on the same year, and you are competing with people and they are not even aware. You enter a rat race. The only trouble with a rat race is that the winner can only be a rat. So why are you joining it? Because if it is called a rat race, then the winner must be a rat. So I ask again why are you joining it?
It is important to understand in as long as you have no contentment you will end up with a lot of trouble but the biggest trouble is that you can’t sleep at night. Once you have seen somebody dressed better than you and you are coveting, you go to sleep and you wake up just to remember how you were beaten in the undeclared fashion show. So you have no contentment, you are dissatisfied, you can’t sleep at night, you wake up several times in one night . Now because you never slept properly you can’t work properly. And the reason why you are so disturbed is because so and so was promoted before you were promoted. Now, because you can’t work properly, now even the next promotion you will not get. So you have condemned yourself to no promotion because of being jealous of the other person’s promotion.
And … the examples of students. You always find people ask you, what grade did you get? They want to know your marks. And they don’t tell you theirs. They first of all ask for your grade. If you got better they get themselves will not tell you theirs. And you what did you get? You don’t want to know. But if they got better, they say, eeh you tried. B plus is good. It is only that I got an A. But the issue is as soon as they know you got better, are they going to be at peace? No. They have just messed up their day. What they got is B plus which is a fantastic score, but because Wanjiru got better you can’t sleep that night. All that is what we are talking about when we talk about the spirit of lack of contentment.
Day 3
Philippians 4
12 I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want
That’s why God made being contented one of the Ten Commandments. The Ten Commandments are not the only commandments in the Bible but they are a summary of all other commandments. And so this one of coveting was made the last one because it will determine whether you enjoy your life or endure it. You know some of us endure, others enjoy. And I am talking about even people who are born again. Some of them are enduring while others are enjoying. The most important principle of enjoying life is to accept what you have before looking for more. Let me repeat; the most important concept of contentment is accepting what you have without giving up on working more to get better. So if you have a bicycle and you realize now it is making you move from A to B be thankful.I know some people stay out of campus, isn’t it? It is now making you come faster, you don’t have to wake up as early, you can come faster to the campus. You feel so happy for the bicycle that you were on number eleven, two legs. Now you are on a bicycle. You are excited.
But a lot of people don’t get excited with what they have. Why? Another person passes them in a car. Now, don’t worry that they have a car, for you, you have a bicycle. Now, if you don’t enjoy your bicycle, who will enjoy it for you? Now, you need to start learning how to enjoy what you have now. If you get a B and you used to get a C, isn’t the Lord good? Don’t worry that some others have A, that is them, you are you, and you are unique. And the Lord has allowed you to improve and get a B. You know once you enjoy the B, you will sleep properly, so when you wake up tomorrow you will work harder so you will soon get an A. But if you don’t accept a B you condemn yourself to now going to get a C next test because you will not work hard, you are disturbed. So the next exam you get a C.
It is a critical thing. The first and most important principle is learning to accept and enjoy what you currently have. But more important is accepting yourself and your self worth. You cannot be sister Kariuki, you can only be yourself. And because you are yourself, why are you trying to compare yourself with others? One of the most dangerous things in our Kenyan culture is comparison. I remember when the PS, Ole Kiyapi decided there will be no comparison of schools some were unhappy. you do your exam, tell your parents, tell your teachers the results. Why are you telling other unrelated people? So no newspaper report of results. Remember? Parliament even discussed it. Why? He is changing our culture, we want to compete. He explained, that the reason why he was removing that competition is because it was causing a lot of havoc. When one private school does better than another, the jealousy is such that all people below a certain grade in standard seven are told to repeat. You heard of those stories? And anyway I know you know them because it might be you who repeated. And the reason you are repeating is because the owner of the school cannot stand the other school doing better than his school.
Some even registered schools where they hide the weak students. So that they want your money but they can’t put you in the same list with others in their school. Have you heard of those stories? So Ole Kiyapi said, no, we are ending up in trouble in this our culture. We are not going to report results. Parliament discussed it and decided, we must return it. I am hoping the next ministers will keep resisting . Why? You cannot have contentment when you decide your job is to compare yourself with others.
And I want to give a testimony; in our time primary final exam was called KPE, about sixty years ago. I did my KPE in 1967. And when I did my KPE I passed to go to high school, so I was a form one in January 1968. That is the last time I ever knew my position in class. I went to a high school where there was a Christian headmaster, a white man, who decided that he did not want anybody to compete with another. You must compete against yourself. So he created a report form with three columns. He explained to the parents that we would stop the idea of comparing students with others, you must compare them with themselves.
Day 4
Galatians 6:4
4 Each one should test their own actions. Then they can take pride in themselves alone, without comparing themselves to someone else
So the first column in the school student report form would be a column on the continuous assessment test ,CAT. And that was very new. In the sixties it was a very new idea. The next column was a column for the marks for end term exam. However the parents were told the most important column was the third column, it was the improvement column which meant the teacher compared the marks you got this term with the marks you got the previous term in order to know whether you are improving or not. Parents were told, do not worry that the guy got a B plus this term, ask, what did they have previously? If previously they had an A, it means they had started the journey downstairs. And it is a very serious matter. So if you had an A and you now got a B, it became a D in the final column because you are going down. Are you getting my point?
So we were taught what you got now is not the issue, how does it compare with previously? If you got an E and now you have moved to a C, the improvement column became an B. In other words your parents are told, please buy them a gift. But the parent says, how can I buy them a gift, they only have a C? Don’t worry about the C, they are on their way up and what matters is not where they are now but the direction they are going.
I was in a school called Kijabe High School, where that headmaster was a Christian . It meant that I never knew my position in class for the next four years. Nobody knew who is better than the other in class, because you see the results are never made public. It was only in form three when during the prize giving day I was picked, for a prize. He had created something that was called the Honours Society. To enter the Honours Society you either were good in sports and sportsmanship. In other words you had to be very good in athletics but also a good citizen. It was not enough that you are doing well. So that’s one requirement for that prize. Another one was good service to the school. In other words there is something you are doing for the school that has made people appreciate you as a good citizen. The third way of joining honors society was, academic performance and good citizen. And I was picked for academic performance. And I said, aaai, most likely this guys likes my Christianity. Because I was a CU leader. So I thought the reason why I am entering Honours society not really my performance.It can only be because the headmaster is a Christian and is happy with me. Because I couldn’t believe I was doing better than others . I knew how much I was struggling, I knew my marks were not that good. Now, how can I enter Honours Society for academic performance? Yet I got into honors society in the final years academic performance and good citizenship.
But when he finally did our form four exam at end of 1971, now our results appeared in the newspapers. Those days the form four exam used to appear in the Nation newspaper,for the government put all candidates results in the newspaper for the whole country. So you now could not hide. The whole country knew what you got. They see John Ng’ang’a, and the grade is actually put. To my surprise, in a school of 105, I was in the top five. And I said, you mean they knew it?
Thus , you need to understand that not comparing yourself with others does not make you do badly in life. It is far much better to compete against yourself than to compete against others. And the school did very well. I doubt upto now that Kijabe has done better than we did. After that the leadership was Africanised. African teachers came and they went back to competition.
But I really thank God for that Christian headmaster who taught us not to compete with each other.After that for A level to Alliance high and in A level they were using letters, so it was not easy to compare who had better over all grades.. Then I went to university and there were no positions in class. So it meant after 1967 nobody has ever compared my results with others.
I did my MA as an old man, and because I do consultancy work, I am not even available for all classes. A degree for my age doesn’t mean much of me because I don’t need it as such. there was a party for my graduating class but my diary could not allow me to attend . Then when we went for actual graduation people asked, you never came the party. You should have come. Why?They were giving a prize for high academic performance and you were one of them. So after the graduation I now went and got my prize. Now, it is important to understand you do not have to compete with others to do well. And the reason why I am giving that testimony is because most Kenyans think that if there is no competition performance will go down. I am telling you, if you don’t hear anything else I am saying as you read this , I hope you start hearing, that God made you unique, totally unique and not like another so why compare?
Once I travelled to Zambia and at the airport both in Nairobi and in Lusaka, they make you put a thumb mark on something. And I asked why a thumb? Just a thumb? And they said, yes. In the whole world we are more than seven billion human beings yet nobody has your thumb mark. In other words God is so creative, He has not had to repeat himself. You are unique. So do not compare yourself with others. Even if your identical twins, your thumb is not identical. Are you getting my point? You are a unique person. Because you are unique, you must decide you will never compare yourself with others, you will accept yourself the way you are.
May be I know you are short, and you are complaining, so you don’t like yourself because you are short. In fact you are always fighting people as you try to compensate. Now, you need to understand that there are things that can only be done by short people. And you then are grateful to God that He made you short. Or maybe you, you are complaining because you are very tall. You know you are always up there and you look at us down here. No. It is very important. That’s why you are always taking fresh oxygen. Now, you need to understand God made you unique. There are things that can only be done by tall people.
Or You have a long nose, there is a reason for it. And it is important to understand because you have a long nose, you have certain advantages. But there is a reason for the way you are. So do not compare your nose with somebody else’s nose. It is unique. Because once you accept yourself it is the beginning of contentment. It will never bother you that somebody else has a bald head because, you are happy to have the hair come to the face because there is a reason for it.
Initially you may not know the reason but somewhere before you die, you will notice why your hair was long. You will then say, aaaah, that’s why God gave me hair right up to the eyes. There is a reason for it. So even when you don’t understand, you should suspect there is a good reason why God made you the way He made you.
Maybe the reason the Lord made you like that is so that you don’t end up marrying the wrong husband. So every time they look at you they go away until the right one comes. It is a very, very important thing to understand God does not make trash. There is a reason for the way you are.
You know I still remember somebody wrote an exam success message to me in 1971 when I was doing form four. It was meant to be a success card, and because many people were not very rich those many years ago, they used to draw something, you know somebody makes a paper card for themselves, they made big … and write the message themselves. I have never forgotten one person who after beautifying the paper wrote, and said,
John may the Lord give you marks that can take you to the career of his choice.
Up to now I have never forgotten it. Because what were they praying for me? They were not asking for me to get a first division, which is today you call an A, they were not asking for a second division which you call a B, they were not asking for a third division which you call a C, they are saying, if all you require is a C to go where God wants you, why should God waste an A on you. The Lord should give you the marks that are adequate for where he wants you to go after school. And there are people who have gotten a C, yet gotten into careers they could never have gotten into. In fact the reason you are in the faculty you happen to be in the university is because you could not get a cluster grade required else where. Am I right? The Lord made sure you could not get the cluster mean score to go to that faculty, which was the wrong place. So God used the cluster score to just get you where you should be. Now, many years later you will be grateful that the Lord protected you against going to the wrong place.
When you understand that, that God is not in the business of wasting your life, He has a reason why He gives you what He gives you, you will face life with contentment.I still remember that exam wishes message because I wanted to go to Alliance high, a third division would not have done, even a first division of low marks would not allow you into Alliance. Alliance was taking only the very top. So the Lord needed to give me the very top marks, distinctions, for me to go there. And He actually gave me. That’s how I ended up going for A level at Alliance.
Now, what I am trying to get you to see is that contentment means accepting yourself. And I want to ask, why must you accept what you have and the way you are? And I want to give you reasons behind it.
Number one, because you are a Christian. To be a Christian means to surrender your life to the Lord and once you surrender it, what happens to you is no longer accidental, is not even incidental, or coincidental …it is by God’s plan. Do you believe that? So it is important to understand the reason why you need to accept the way you are is, is because you are very clear you are not an accident. Once you handed over your life to the Lord, He manages it himself and so when things happen which are not what you should have preferred, you must suspect that the Lord knows better, and although He may not have revealed to you, you will accept it because God has decreed it.
Day 5
and to make it your ambition to lead a quiet life: You should mind your own business and work with your hands, just as we told you
I think the second reason why you must accept who you are and what he gives you is because you don’t know what you need in the future. The future is in God’s hands. You know yesterday, you know today, but the future is in God’s hands. So what He is doing now is preparing you for a future you are not sure about. So what you are calling bad now may be what is appropriate for the future He wants you to have. That’s the reason.
May be one of the reasons why every sister you talk to seems to have a chorus of no is in his will. You approach the first one for marriage and she says , no; another one, no; third one , no. Now you are in final year and they are still saying no. So they have formed a chorus of no. It may be because the Lord wants you in the future to be a counselor of young people with broken hearts. Now you start understanding that you have testimonies you can give them at their hour of need. Otherwise , in your old age and people in such a situation ask you, what do you know.
I still remember in 1974, I had a roommate, I was in hall thirteen in the university of Nairobi. My roommate who was a non-Christian got visited by a girl, not a campus girl. And then I was trying to see how to keep her busy waiting for my roommate. So I started witnessing to her. That’s the only way I know how to keep a girl busy. I started witnessing to her. It must be 1974 or 1975. But I didn’t know she was a dynamite. She started saying, you are preaching to me? What problems do you know? You know I got a third division, I have been tarmacking, I have no job. What do you know? What problem have you ever suffered? You talk about that you believe in God! You can believe in him because of the way He has looked after you. She asked me, what did you get for your A level? I told her. So what problem do you know now? What did you get for your form four? I told her. So what do you know? You did well in KPE, went to a good high school. Did well in form four, went to a good A level school, did well, and now came to university to do a business course. What problem have you experienced to preach to me about what God can do?
And you know, since I wanted her to get to know the Lord, I started looking at my failures, so I share . She was not interested in what has worked, it is what has not worked. And it was now a struggle to tell her, even me I have failed. Where? Are you getting my point? That what I needed is what I did not have. Since then I have failed many times. But at that point it was not very clear. And you start understanding that some of the struggles you are going through, it is a training college for future ministry. For a ministry you will do at a later time , it is the background that will give you that.
So I am giving you the second reason why you can accept the way you are, and accept the experiences you are having and so be contented. It is because you have no idea what your future will require. So you cannot therefore start saying this is the wrong thing, and yet it is preparing you for a future only God knows.
The third reason why it is important to accept the way you are is very interesting. It is because even if you refuse it, it will still be as it is. So it is very foolish not to accept what you cannot change. Even after you cry, He is still God. So why are you wasting your tears. Accept that the girl is gone and be thankful that she is gone. Because you will say, God, for her to drop me she was the wrong guy. Why? If she was right one, even if she tried to run away God would hold her back.
My sister tell God the reason you allowed him to go is because you love me. Thank you that he left. Now, when you start understanding God loves you, you start understanding you can’t change what He has determined for your ultimate good . Accept and enjoy it.You can’t change it. And because you can’t change it, it is foolish not to accept it. You know, wisdom is learning what you can change, what you cannot change and noting the difference. So what you can change, God will give you the wisdom on how to change it but there are things you cannot change. What are those? If you had a C minus last semester in biochemistry, you can’t change it. It is already in the computer records, isn’t it? When they produce statistics they show second semester, second year, got a C minus. So don’t bother with it, accept it, and now move forward. You know once you accept what has happened, you are able to deal with it but you cannot deal with something you have not yet accepted. And because you have not accepted it, you have no contentment, it drains your energy from dealing with the problems of tomorrow.
The Bible says in Matthew chapter six, enough for the day are the evil thereof. In other words each day God gives you enough challenges. Don’t take tomorrow’s challenges to today and don’t take yesterday’s challenges today. It is true that when you were in standard seven you insulted the teacher and he beat you. I agree it happened. But why is it disturbing you now in second year? You cannot change what happened. Can you? No, it is gone. So do not struggle with it. The same thing; you are sitting there and wondering, university has become so expensive, my parents are struggling paying my school fees.If I get married, will I ever take my children to school? So there are people not sleeping at night and they are university students, because they don’t see how they shall educate their children. That’s called a waste of time. That’s what I am calling foolishness. So wisdom is understanding things you cannot change, and it is important to deal with it.
And my prayer is that as I am saying this that the Lord will start pointing things in your mind that are not right. Now, due to changing lifestyles and other factors, students and graduates have a struggle in upholding contentment. There are so many challenges which you are facing as a youth that it has come to where you do not get satisfied. Let me tell you the things that should cause you discontent, genuine discontent. Three things that should cause you discontent, and I am telling you don’t be contented in those ones.
Day 6
among whom also we all once conducted ourselves in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, just as the others
I have been emphasizing the reason for contentment, now I am giving you the reason for discontentment. What should make you discontented?
The first one, if you fall into a sin, do not be contented in the sin. If you are contented there is a problem because the way God has created us, He wants fellowship with us, and when we fall into sin we lose that fellowship. For us to be happy that we are without fellowship with God is wrong.
So do not be contented that you are not fellowshipping with God. You know something? If you were dead, which you are not, even if I slap you, you will not slap me back. Why? You feel no pain. Dead bodies feel no pain. So that’s okay. Now, similarly, if you are spiritually dead, even if you do a sin you feel no problem. My sister you sleep with a boy and you look around; has anybody seen? If nobody has seen you feel very nice.
Now, you need to understand, for you to sleep with somebody you have not been married to and you don’t feel anything in your spirit is as very dangerous sign. It shows you are spiritually dead..You know dead bodies feel no pain. Similarly, when a non-Christian sins, he doesn’t feel anything wrong because the Spirit of God is not in his life. So when you sin and you don’t feel any sense of discontentment, it means you are spiritually dead.
The way you know that you are a Christian is not by the fact that you never sin because all of us sin, and for somebody like me who has been saved for more than fifty years, I have sinned more than you. So all of us sin. The difference sensitivity to sin. You do not know you are a Christian because you never sin, you know you are a Christian because you don’t enjoy sin. Let me repeat; we know you are not a Christian because you don’t sin, you are a Christian because you don’t enjoy sin. You can do the same thing with a non-Christian, the non-Christian looks, nobody has seen. And he goes happy. For you, even if nobody sees, the Bible says it is a dangerous thing to fall in the hands of the Most High God. You have such a conviction, you can’t eat until you sort it out with God. It tells you, you are spiritually alive. That’s why you have no peace. The moment you sin and it doesn’t bother you, it tells you, you are spiritually dead, and dead bodies feel no pain.
So you need to know the discontentment or discouragement that comes out of sin is to cause you to go to God for forgiveness. And it is a very important thing. So you need to understand that.
Number two, when you fail to perform and you know it is because you did not do your best, you must be unhappy not with the grade but with your laziness. There is enough scriptures that condemns laziness. By the way according to my understanding, and I am not a theologian, there are more verses that condemn laziness than drunkenness. I know drunkenness is also bad. But you know something? If a drunkard came to your worship service , the ushers would handle him out. We cannot stomach drunkards in the Sunday service. But seated next to you is a lazy person and you don’t seem to mind. Somehow, we do not follow the same standards as the Bible. The Bible condemns laziness more than drunkenness. But for us laziness is okay.
I think you need to understand that for you to be lazy, you are getting bad marks in school or you are performing badly at work, or you have beautiful dresses but they are dirty, that’s why you are wearing a bad one , and you are contented…mean you do not have the spirit of God. Now, you need to understand if that is the reason for bad performance , you should not be contented.
I am now giving you reasons for not being contented, good reasons to worry. This is because there are many people who argue that any failure , inshallah, God wills. Meaning, contentment yet being lazy. I am here to tell you that’s not scripture. Laziness and Christianity cannot be in the same sentence. You cannot say a lazy Christian. Now that doesn’t make sense. The reason, because you are a Christian you are not lazy.
Because you see, I told you there are not just Ten Commandments. There is one more; don’t be lazy. So I am saying when you talk about contentment, do not take it as excuse for complacency. Contentment is not complacency. So you should not be somebody happy to be mediocre. Mediocrity is not a sign of a Christian.
Day 7
For where you have envy and selfish ambition, there you find disorder and every evil practice
And so you need to ask yourself, you may have gotten a D minus, but did you do your best? If I didn’t, it will mean that I will have to work harder, I should not be satisfied with my way of working. I will accept the D minus but then work at how to reorganize myself. The same thing; I got an A minus but to be honest I was lazy. I should have gotten a straight A. You should be crying, not satisfied. I know you are the best in class, but you are not competing with other people in the class, you are competing against yourself. And you know you could have gotten an A and you only got an A minus. Don’t be contented with an A minus when God has given you the capacity to get a straight A.
And that’s why I am telling you this comparison messes up because once you have an A minus and everybody else has B, are you going to work hard? No. When you compete against yourself, you work far much harder than when you start competing with others. And it is important to understand that contentment should come out if I got a C minus, but I know I did my best given that but I needed to go to bury my mother. God are you not good that despite all I went through you gave me a C minus. You got a C minus and you are happy and rejoicing with your C minus because you know you did your best.
When somebody sees your grade they say , eeeh, sorry, pole sana. Sorry about what? I am so happy.
So it is important to understand then, that if you are going to be somebody who is going to live a life of contentment, work hard.
I said three things. The first one we said you should not be contented when your life is not pleasing to God. Then you should not be contented when you know you have not performed well.
Thirdly, you should not be contented when you are satisfied with earthly things without the picture of tomorrow. We are happy to have something on earth but our desire is to go to heaven. Sometimes we are so earthly minded we are not of any heavenly good. It is important to understand we have to be useful on earth but we must always think of heavenly destiny. So that’s one of the struggles,that should make you discontented.
That’s one of the struggles of many people, when God has been so good to them, given the right body size, figure eight, nose not too long yet not going to heaven.It should disturb you. You need to understand that some still start feeling at home because the body alone is doing well . Forgetting that the body is not going to heaven, it is only the heart. And so irrespective of how your body looks like, if your spirit has a problem, you are only of earthly good. Yet the earth is a temporary place.
So you need to understand that if you really don’t have heaven as a place you desire to be in, it will interfere with how you relate with God today.
So back to the subject; we are dealing with the commandment, thou shall not covet, which , put in a different way is thou shall be contented. And it means that whenever you are not contented you might need to repent so you gain contentment.Whenever you feel like, I am feeling so discontented, , it means you have to repent because the reason you are not contented is because you might n be coveting or sinning in other ways. It is important to ask yourself, what are the things that make you not to have a good day? It may be a Sunday but there are things that are disturbing you. Many of them is because you are comparing yourself with others, or alternatively you have not accepted that God loves you and whatever you are going through He knows you need to go through it because of what He wants to do with you in the future.
We pray that God will truly bring us to where we can start enjoying this contentment such that we will enjoy earth and then later enjoy heaven.
You are telling God, God, I want a life of contentment. Fifty years from now I want to be a contented old man, but that can only happen when I am fully surrendered to you so that I can accept whatever happens to me in the meanwhile .
Lord forgive us for not living in contentment , having forgiven us , may the Spirit of God take over total control of our current and future lives such that whatever happens to us now, we will not be discontented because we know you have a plan for us and what happens today will contribute to your plan for us tomorrow .