Day 1
1 Corinthians 10:23.
I have the right to do anything you say but not everything is beneficial. I have the right to do anything but not everything is constructive. No one should seek their own good but the good of others.
What is this passage saying? If something must be done, yet for no reason , then it is an addiction. If something has to be done, yet you have not thought through it, but you feel, eeeh I must do it, I must do it; you are addicted to it.
By the way when we talk about addiction people think about alcohol, think about drugs, but many people who don’t live a good life are addicted, not to drugs or alcohol but to other things. There are people addicted to sex. So when the wife is going through a difficult time they can’t stand it. They are Christians, they are in the leadership of the church, but they end up with another woman somewhere in bed, and they feel totally helpless to avoid sexual immorality. That is addiction.
There are people addicted to eating meat. They feel like even if there is no money I must eat meat. That is addiction. Addiction is anything you feel you must do even when with better reasoning would not have done it. Addiction is simply lack of control. And you cannot fulfill your life mission when you lack control, because you will end up doing things that are not right or necessary.
Paul is saying, I have the right to do anything you say but not everything is beneficial. So it means people with addiction are doing things that are not beneficial because they feel they have the right to do it.Yet they think what they are talking about, are not sins they think it is ok. It maybe a TV program you are addicted to. If I visit you during that TV program, you hate me for having visited during that program. In fact, you will still put the TV on yet I came for us to talk. That’s a sign of addiction. You are addicted. Anything you cannot stop yourself from having, it means you are addicted to it.
And you cannot live a life of contentment when you feel compelled to do something you do want to do. It is like the drug addicts. I hear without taking it, they feel totally unstable. So is it a TV program, without which you feel like the day is lost. Why? I never saw the program. That’s an addiction.
You cannot live a life of contentment when there is something determining your contentment and it is not a reasonable thing. That way you cannot fulfill your mission. For a life of purpose avoid any addiction to a person or a something.
Another pillar of contentment and therefore success is integrity. Integrity gives a life of contentment just like contentment itself leads to a life of integrity. You know, when you are not living a life of integrity, what will happen is that you leave in fear of being discovered. They say the days of a thief are forty. So finally, you will be caught and you will be embarrassed, as you wait. In the meanwhile you will not be contented. Seemingly people think you are a success. Yet you will be frustrated. You will be looking like King David.,,, for killing Uriah. o you will be looking for ways you can cover up sleeping with his wife.
If you don’t have integrity in your life, you will never have contentment. I have written a book on this, it is called Integrity the Litmus Test of Good Leadership. And I will encourage you to pick the book for details on this. However I am saying people who live a life of integrity are contented. If you have integrity you don’t even need a good memory. If I ask you, how old are you, and you lie to me how old you are, that means you have no integrity. Next time we meet I ask you, by the way Brother Peter, how old did you tell me you are? You have to remember. what did I tell Ng’ang’a? You create a lot of complex in your life that can never allow you contentment when you don’t have integrity.
Day 2
1corinthians 4
7 For who makes you different from anyone else? What do you have that you did not receive? And if you did receive it, why do you boast as though you did not?
What is integrity? The word integrity has the same root word with integer. An integer is a whole number. So, when we say you have integrity, it means you are whole. What you see is what you get. There is no hidden person. You are not two people, you are not playing PR, you are the same person everywhere. And that means what you are in the office is what you are at home, and is what you are in secret, because integrity is who you are when nobody can see.
You live your life like what you are doing could later become a headline in the Nation newspaper and you will not mind. Thus, for you, you live like it is public, even when nobody can see. Your wife is not there, you are far away. You do not live fearing shame.
When I was working for Shell, for quite a number of years I used to do an international job where I was covering ten countries of Africa. When I am in Madagascar, I can’t see any Kenyan, I am totally on my own. Remember Integrity is what I do when nobody can see. I am in the Hilton in Tananarive … all on my own, and they are even speaking French. We can’t even communicate. What is it I will do there? Same as in Hilton Nairobi.
My friend, do you want a life of contentment? Live a life of integrity where you are happy with everything, everywhere. You will never be embarrassed even if it is discovered by others. You don’t suffer from the sense of guilt because your life is a life of integrity. Of course, sometimes you are human you may fail. Again, you learn how to give repent and give apologies. You will say, yes, here I failed. Because you see if you cover it up you will be blackmailed, and blackmailed people do not have contentment. Integrity allows you to be open. Nobody can threaten you because there is nothing you are hiding.
And you need to ask yourself, is that the kind of life you are leading. You know, Ecclesiastes 3:11-15 says,
He has made everything beautiful in its time. He has also set eternity in the human heart, yet no one can fathom what God has done from beginning to the end. I know that there is nothing better for people than to be happy and to do good while they live. That each of them may eat and drink, and find satisfaction in all their toil. This is the gift of God. I know that everything God does will endure forever. Nothing can be added from it and nothing taken from it. God does it so that people will fear him. Whatever is has already been, whatever will been has been before, and God will call the past to account.
This is the wisdom of King Solomon message about contentment. The first thing he is saying in this passage is things are right if they are done in their time. Do you want contentment? Don’t try to get something God intends you to get tomorrow, today. Things are right if they are done in their time. Isn’t that what he is saying in verse eleven? He has made everything beautiful in its time, He has also set eternity in the human heart, and yet no one can fathom what God has done from beginning to the end.
Thus, what we are learning is that people of contentment do not want everything today, they want something in its own time. If you are a young person, wait for sex is good only in marriage. If you have it before you will end up in guilty and finally in hell. It is a good thing but not good when it is not its time
Driving is a good thing but not when you steal the money to buy a car. You need to understand what he is saying. People who are contented are people who don’t feel like everything has to be gotten now and now. He is saying, everything is beautiful in its time. And it will be very, very important to know and practice that.
Day 3
Ecclesiastics 3
14 I know that everything God does will endure forever; nothing can be added to it and nothing taken from it. God does it so that people will fear him
But there is something else he has also said. He has set eternity in the human heart. Always do something with eternity in perspective if you want contentment in the long term. It is only important if it will help you to enjoy life in eternity with God. If it is going to take away your possibility of heaven, avoid it.You are aware that this life is a short life; seventy years, eighty years, and you are gone. So how can you end up losing your eternity, forever.. eternity, because of something that is going to affect only two or three years of your life. People who have contentment are people who value eternity.
There is a songwriter who said that, set your eyes upon Jesus. And he says as you concentrate on this Jesus, the things of this world will grow strangely dim.
Turn your eyes upon Jesus,
Look full in His wonderful face,
And the things of earth will grow strangely dim,
In the light of His glory and grace
You are able to see heaven in the right perspective, you are able to value earth only in the right perspective.Therefore, contentment means you are happy enough that you are going to heaven. Even if you miss this or that it will be for a short time. You know, contentment is the opposite of coveting in the Ten Commandments. You know the Ten Commandments, the last one says, thou shall not covet. So this topic we are discussing today is part of the Ten Commandments, but integrity is the opposite. Instead of saying thou shall not covet, it says, thou shall have contentment. So, when you don’t have contentment, my friend, you are breaking the Ten Commandments. Contentment is the opposite of that. A contented person may still want more. I am not saying when you are contented you are not asking God for more, but you are able to enjoy what God has given you now.
We live in what we call one compartment life. It doesn’t mean you will not go to the next one. Like God has given you a bedsitter, it doesn’t mean later in life He will not give you a three bedroomed house, but don’t keep thinking about the three bedrooms, until you don’t enjoy your bedsitter. Contentment does not mean not being ambitious, contentment means being ambitious, yes, but happy that God has allowed you to have what you have for now.
And, I repeat, the opposite of contentment is breaking God’s commandment by coveting. What is to covet? It is to desire what you another has. It is to think that what another person has they should not be having. You know Philippians 4:11 says,
I am not saying this because I am in need, but I have learnt to be content whatever the circumstance.
Do you hear that? If you are not contented and you have an explanation, oh God the wife you gave me, if only I had a better wife, oh God if only my husband was not daft. I wish he was a thinking man like pastor. Now, my friend, Paul is saying, I have learnt to be content whatever the circumstance. You are not allowed to change your husband. You have to learn, since I am not going to change this man, how do I accept the man and live with him happily? Your wife has a certain weakness. Initially in the first year or two of marriage, you are struggling to change her. But some of it are in her personality or her background. They can’t be changed hence if you learn how to accept your spouse the way they are, you will start enjoying her. They ask, how can you live with such a man? I learnt how to live with him. And you become contented.
Day 4
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. 13 I can do all this through him who gives me strength.
Paul is saying: I have learnt to be content whatever the circumstance I happen to be in. Again, that contentment is accepting that God has created circumstances. Of course, if there is something you can do about it, do it. You must have wisdom of knowing what can be changed and what cannot be changed. And you cannot change your husband. The best thing is accepting the way he is. And the moment you accept him, you will start enjoying him. You will be surprised that you were concentrating on a few weaknesses, yet he has so many right things… of him. Now, that’s what we are calling contentment.
The same thing with your children. You wish your child was like so and so’s son, so bright, so good. Okay, the IQ if your son doesn’t look very high compared with his cousin. But is there something he is good at? Maybe that boy makes ugali and everybody wonders what a fantastic ugali that is. Maybe he is very respectful. There are many good things about that son of yours. Why are you concentrating on a few weaknesses your son has? No one has everything, that is why we need each other. Accept your son the way he is. If there are changeable things you can talk about them, but there are certain things that are just the way he is. That’s the way God created him. Once you accept him you will enjoy time with your son
You will not enjoy your children if you keep comparing your children with others, yet God made them unique. It is Mason who wrote a book saying, You Were Born An Original Don’t Die A Copy.You must accept yourself the way you are. The moment you accept yourself you will be contented, but number two, you must accept the others the way they are, and when you do so, you will be contented in yourself, you will be contented with others.
You know verse twelve above is saying,
I know what it is to be in need and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learnt the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want.
That’s what I have been saying this far. When you hear people are contented, they may even be hungry, so hungry, but they still say, God thank you that I was at least able to take breakfast. I know there are people without any breakfast. I am grateful. The guy is so happy about having breakfast although he has no other meal that day. I hear university people call it one, zero, zero diet. They took breakfast but they had no lunch and no supper. My friend, if you learn that secret of contentment, then you will be hungrily happy. Is that good English? You can be having challenges, you can actually be sick and you still have contentment. As you are asking God for healing, you are happy that you know He will heal you at his time. May be You have no income, you have just been fired, and you say, God I don’t understand this but there must be a reason you have for this. You have just been fired but you start saying, God must have something behind it. Paul says I have learnt the secret of being content irrespective of what I am going through.
The one thing that keeps you contented is knowing that He says, and lo I am with you always to the close of this age. And because the age is not closed, Jesus is Emmanuel, God with us even now. And so you know whatever the hunger, whatever you are going through, God is there with you, and you and God are always in the majority…and on the winning side . That’s really what we are talking about in contentment.
Day 5
Proverbs 10:22
22 The blessing of the Lord brings wealth,
without painful toil for it
I could also be talking about materialism, and how it causes lack of contentment, and how stewardship leads to contentment. But let me finish with Proverbs 10:22-24. The blessing of the Lord brings wealth. That is God’s promise.
The blessings of the Lord bring wealth and He adds no trouble to it.
Verse 23,
a fool finds pleasure in evil conduct, but a man of understanding delights in wisdom.
Verse 24,
24 What the wicked dread will overtake them;
what the righteous desire will be granted
What am I saying?
Do not mistake wealth for a sign of God’s favour. In other words, you can be the kind of a person who thinks that when there is wealth God favours me, when He doesn’t give me wealth, He doesn’t favour me. You need to understand clearly that God has a program for you. When Job was going through trouble, he was the favoured of God just as when he was wealthy. Do not say, eeh, God has blessed so and so, can you see the kind of car they are driving? They may not be as blessed as you are because wealth is not blessing. The blessing of the Lord brings wealth and adds no trouble with it. What does that mean? There are people who are wealthy but they have a lot of troubles. Whatever you have, God has kept away trouble from you.
But you need to come to where you start seeing God’s favour, not in terms of the millions in your bank but because He is walking with you and his presence is with you, and He is meeting all your basic needs, and when you pray He is answering your prayer.
We have learnt a lot on the secret of contentment, we have learnt about living within our means, accepting our situation, living a disciplined life, avoiding addiction and doing everything with eternity into perspective, and many other things.
The question is, the covid pandemic caught all of us unawares, with most people being laid off from their jobs. Others experienced a salary reduction. In this case, how would I counsel such a person, considering this person has a family?
The first answer to it is what we have just been covering. Learn to live within your means. You know you don’t have a job, you know you saved some money. Don’t use it the way you were using it before. That’s why I spent so much time on the topic of living within your means. You know, if you continue living in the same house, where you are paying sixty thousand shillings a month, my friend, within two months you will be a destitute, simply having to beg. But if you could move from a house of sixty thousand and start living in one of twenty thousand, you have just released forty thousand which you can live on for a longer period.
Don’t start saying, what will the people think? My friend, you did not fire yourself, you were fired. And it is a fact. So just move from the current house to another house which your reduced income can allow. Maybe you are living in your own house and you realize if you rented it out it can give you sixty thousand. But why don’t you move to rent one of twenty thousand so that you now have forty thousand from rent?The first thing you need to understand is living within your means leads to contentment even in crisis. It will release your income so that you have time to think through.
Day 6
Proverbs 6
6 Go to the ant, you sluggard; consider its ways and be wise!7 It has no commander,
no overseer or ruler,8 yet it stores its provisions in summer and gathers its food at harvest
Number two, although I don’t want to emphasize it because I am too late for one already jobless; but the thing I normally recommend to my mentees is that you must always keep about three months of your basic expenses in a liquid form. In other words it must be the kind of money you can withdraw quickly. You can invest in unit trusts. With Unit trusts, you can get the money within a week. Yet you are still getting interest on the money but it doesn’t have as a higher interest as riskier investments. Of course, don’t leave it in the bank because the banks don’t give meaningful interests. Go and buy unit trusts. If you are fired today, you can stay three months using the money you have saved , and meeting all your basics, you are not getting any help from anybody, and the three months will give you time to pray, time to seek God and time to think what else you can do. This one I am not telling the one who has already been fired. I am talking to all of us, that it is important to always maintain three to six months equivalent of you basic requirements . You maybe very asset rich, but assets can’t help you when you lose your job suddenly. You are rich but not liquid. So it is important to have some money which you put aside, not in a bank account but in an investment that can be made liquid quickly so that you are able to to meet your urgent requirements.
Number three is to understand that the firing did not happen behind God’s back. You maybe unhappy with the boss that he fired you instead of firing so and so who is lazy, but you see God allowed it. So, don’t try to protect God by trying to say the devil, the devil. God allowed it. If God allowed it, it means there is something God wants to do with you. Your children belong to God and He needs your children to do well to his glory.
So, go to God in prayer. Say, God, for now I have no idea what to do but these are your children. Contentment will be as you wait to see what God is giving you, you are not bitter. You know somehow God will sort you out. How? Initially you don’t know. You are waiting on God. Contentment doesn’t mean you know the answer yet, it means you are trusting God. That’s the meaning of what Peter is saying;
Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you.
That means, don’t carry the burden of, what will my children eat? Initially, I have talked about, just go into prayer. Then go to a counsellor or to somebody who is a friend whom you trust, discuss them. But the most important thing is hand over the problem to God so that you are able to believe that God will help you, because He does. And I am sure many of us can give testimony. It is a pity that the church does not have as many opportunities for testimonies, but there are many people who can tell you how they lost their job and how God was able to take them through miraculously. We need to give people opportunity, because you see you will lose your job but you have never heard of anybody who lost their job before you. So, you don’t know what God did for them. So you are unable to trust God . It is that trust of God, not carrying a burden, that will make you have joy in sorrowful times. You know Philippians chapter four is saying that He is going to give you peace beyond understanding. Then people will say, haiya, that guy is jobless. His children, what will they eat? Yet he doesn’t look worried. Why are you not worried? Because you have given your worry to God. I hope I am clear.
How can we clarify on contentment during a crisis in brief.
I hope I have explained contentment does not mean you have everything you need. Contentment means you have handed over your inadequacies to God.I hope I am clear. Contentment does not mean you have everything, contentment means you don’t have but you know a God who has. The question in your mind is, I can see the definition of contentment to this man, contentment means having enough. No, no, no. My subject has been throughout, that people never have enough; even the very rich. I still remember talking to a guy who is a CEO of a multinational company, and he was talking about the rich people. I looked at him, I didn’t want to embarrass him asking him, now if you are not rich, who is rich? Because this is a guy who lives in Muthaiga, he is the CEO of a big multinational, and he is talking about the rich people. In other words, he regards himself as poor and he is living in Muthaiga. You need to understand, there are many people in wealthy areas like Muthaiga in Nairobi, yet totally discontented. So, you need to understand that contentment does not mean you have, contentment means you know a God who has.
Day 7
Let no debt remain outstanding, except the continuing debt to love one another, for whoever loves others has fulfilled the law
Secondly, contentment means you have learnt how to live within your means happily, you are just living where you are. It is the sense of I can’t handle it but I know God who does. That’s what contentment is all about.
Another person understands contentment to mean lack of a vision. You know, again I said contentment does not mean you are not ambitious, it means you are happy to be where you are, but you are seeking God to put you in a better place tomorrow. You are enjoying today but tomorrow you are looking to be in a better place. You are in a bedsitter but you are praying to God, show me ways that can make me come out of my bedsitter to a three bedroomed house. And that will require faith. Trust providential God .
Therefore,contentment does not mean lack of faith, it means I am happy where I am but I am trusting God for more in the future. There are a lot of people who actually get unhappy with the word contentment because they think if their children get contented, they will not work hard in school, because their understanding of the word contentment is wrong. No, no, no. Contentment means you are happy with what God has given you, you are happy with what God has given you to do but you are believing God for better days. That will require working hard. So your son needs to understand that. I have written a book on stewardship, which I would hope you can pick to explain to such a son that the ability, and the brain God has given him a stewardship issue. If he does not use his brain to the limit, he may fail his exams but more important he will also end up in hell. Why? He did not study the way God wanted him to study. And when you don’t use the asset God has given you the way He wanted you to, you have an answer. Remember the guy who was given one talent, and went and buried it. He was told, go to hell. You go to where there is gnashing of teeth. And all his mistake was not using his talent.
So please do not understand contentment to mean lack of ambition, lack of being hardworking, lack of faith. You need all of them because all of them are biblical. It is God who wants us to be ambitious, it is God who wants us to be contented, it is God who wants us to walk by faith, and walking by faith will also help you in your contentment because you are trusting God, not trusting yourself.
But the whole issue about diligence, working hard is part of the requirement of the scriptures. Laziness is no godly at all. So, work hard.
So, I hope I have answered the question of the contentment and faith or contentment and hardwork. I hope I am clear about it. So do not define contentment to mean being idle, or that it means, like the Merus say, muka ukinya, I arrived. Therefore, I have no ambition. You know, no, no, no. It means that although where you are, you are happy, and grateful to God, you are asking God to show you things to do to be in a better place. But in the meanwhile, you are happy where you are. I hope I am clear because it will be a dangerous thing for you to leave here thinking that contentment means you have no ambition, or that contentment means you are not trusting God for more. That’s not the meaning of the word contentment.
Paul said, I have learnt in every circumstance, whether in plenty or in want to be contented. That doesn’t mean that he is not happy to have plenty, it means he will still be happy when he doesn’t have plenty.