Contentment is key to successful living

When asked to define success,  Lydie Hakizimana, the chief executive of publishing firm Drakkar Ltd in Rwanda, had this to say, “Being able to do what you love and earn your living out of it is success in progress. In progress because we always feel we still need to accomplish more.”

That got me thinking: The people we think are successful really are not because they do not perceive themselves as successful, so why should we label them successful?

The key to a happy life and success is simply contentment.

Unfortunately, nearly everyone I know lacks contentment, which, if taken as a sample, would mean the same is reflected in nearly the whole world.

How, then, do we stay contented according to the word of God?

• Godliness with contentment is great gain.

If we have food and clothing, that is sufficient.

Average Kenyans with big dreams will probably call the word of God a dream killer yet it is the same God who encourages us to dream big. Well, there is nothing wrong with being affluent.

There is everything wrong, however, if that becomes our sole focus and purpose for living.

Why strive for material things that count for nothing in the hereafter? Imagine being content and you are a godly person. That is pure bliss.

• We must take care that covetousness does not push us to property acquisition.

God says that life does not consist in the abundance of possessions.

Your neighbour acquiring a new car is not the signal for you to change yours as well because you feel challenged.

I have a friend who lives abroad and whenever he is in Kenya, he drives an old car. which many Kenyans would not be caught dead in.

Once, someone asked him why he was shaming himself by driving a jalopy.

But he wondered what he would need an expensive car for while in Kenya yet his family lives abroad.

• God keeps in perfect peace those who have him in their minds because they trust in Him.

If a slum house is all you can afford, you must trust God to provide not only the next meal but a better one at that.

• Worry not about what you will eat, drink or wear, for life is more than food and the body more than clothing.

• When the Lord is your Shepherd, you shall not want.

This is the secret behind David’s success story.

• Blessed are those who hunger and thirst after righteousness for they will be satisfied.

Instead of worrying about how you will cross over to the ‘haves’, why not worry about how you will cross over to the spiritually ‘haves’?

• We must keep ourselves free from the love of money and be content with what we have for He has promised never to leave us nor forsake us.

• Like Paul, we must learn to be content in whatever situation, whether in need or in plenty.

It is all about attitude.

It is all in the mind. Without God, we will never truly be contented or successful.