What I learned on my quest for riches

Peter O. Ndonga

I Desired a materially good, rich, and happy life. I eagerly admired expensive things, envied wealthy people, coveted their high positions and good things. I tried to acquire much money by relying not only on hard work, and other people's advice and help, but on personal will. The means I employed to make money were not always honest and God-based. My expectations usually failed to come true, and I became very unhappy, full of fear, discouraged, and sick. I asked myself, "How can I desire rightly?"

I found the answer to this question through the study of Christian Science. God's guidance became more real to me as I learned about the goodness and supremacy of divine Love. This one God is the divine Principle, all cause and effect. I also learned that the real man is God's image and likeness. Being harmonious and immortal, man lacks nothing good. He is eternally under the care of the omniscient Father-Mother God.

As I earnestly yielded to these spiritual truths, my consciousness was awakened to the fact that because I am God's likeness, my real life must be spiritual and always good. I felt liberated from fear and anxiety after gaining beautiful glimpses of this truth.

I reasoned further that since my real life is spiritual, whatever good I experience or express must also be spiritual and can only emanate from the source of infinite goodness, divine Love, God. I strongly refuted the belief that goodness and happiness are found in material things. I accepted my freedom from unrighteous desires, deprivation, regrets, and anxiety. With firmness and seriousness of purpose I constantly aligned my affections with God in order to gain the spiritual understanding that would heal and uplift me. I began to comprehend that true joy can only be discerned by spiritual sense, which proceeds from God and therefore is always right.

The Bible tells us that God is Love. To reflect God, we must, therefore, express love. In John's First Epistle we read: "Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him" (2:15). It follows that the material world and the lust for worldly things are deceptive.

This line of reasoning and understanding has enabled me to acquire fulfilling sources of income, which, with prudent use, have proved more than sufficient for our daily needs and have enabled us to assist other people. The education of my higher nature through divine Science has dispelled the many vain ideas and misconceptions that made me feel sick. Recurrent headaches, which used to bother me, have all vanished, and a sense of wholeness and harmony has taken over in my thought.

Christ Jesus overcame all temptations by being constantly in spiritual unity with his divine Principle, God. His love and obedience to God, his Father, were unwavering because he knew God, not material things, to be the source of wisdom, strength, and happiness.

Understanding these spiritual truths of God and man also helps us by making us more grateful for all the good that comes into our lives. As divine Love expels fear, doubt, and worry from our thoughts, we are better able to recognize good. Our thoughts are supplied with holy ideas. These ideas manifest themselves in ways that fulfill our needs according to God's all-loving will.

Peter Ndonga writes from Mombasa, Kenya.

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The excellent things Jesus did

February 17, 1997

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