Man in the Mirror - Can Faith and Money Mix Series - Magazine - Bo Planet

Man in the Mirror - Can Faith and Money Mix Series

Published by: Allen Espejo on 4th Mar 2010 | View all blogs by Allen Espejo

Is there anybody here who doesn’t know Michael Jackson?

For the benefit of older generation, like my dad (am I going to be in trouble here?), he was Elvis Presley of their time.

I’m not going to talk about the media buzz that are being said about him or his humanitarian works where he supported 39 charity organizations (Reference: 2000 edition of the Guinness Book Of World Records - "Most Charities Supported By a Pop Star").

I just want to borrow a line from his song entitled “Man in the Mirror.”

How is this related with Faith and Money?

Our site’s subtitle is, “Handling your finances with a faith perspective.”

To achieve this, we have to use our faith to discipline ourselves on how we handle our money.

We have to have faith in our self, faith in others and most of all, faith in God. This kind of faith, reinforced by love can achieve this kind of discipline.

If we do not have discipline, we are lacking in self-control.

Handling your finances without self-control is chaos!

The scripture says that we have to love what is good; we have to be self-controlled, upright, holy and disciplined. (Titus 1:8)

To know what is good, goodness should be found within us. If there are things that prevent us in bringing out the goodness within us, then we need to evaluate ourselves and find the areas in our lives that prevent us in doing these good things.

We need to have full control over our weakness so we can attain the discipline that we want to achieve.

It’s unfortunate that most of us do the opposite.

Instead of controlling our weaknesses, we look for the weaknesses of others and we try to control them. We tell others to change but we do not take the initiative to change within.

I have to admit that I mastered this skill!

I tried to make the world around me a better place by telling other people to change. Unfortunately, they could not see the changes in me so guess what happened? Many of them turned from bad to worse!

The scripture says “Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother's eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye.” Luke 6:41

My favorite part of the song “Man in the Mirror” is - ”If you wanna make the world a better place, take a look at yourself and then make a change.”

If we want to see changes in our world, the first step is to start fixing the problem within our self. The problem is, we try to fix the world from the outside.

It’s so easy to point our fingers to others. There are times when my wife will to say to me, “it’s all your fault!” Then I would reply back, “Well, look who’s talking!” Then we argue.

(I have to confess that once in a while I still find myself guilty of this weakness. I’m a work in progress. Please pray for me on this.)

There are instances where you think that you are trying to help others but in the end, people would blame you for the wrong reasons.

Whether they are right or wrong, it wouldn’t hurt if we stop and reflect a bit and ask ourselves, “What made them say that?”

Sometimes the answer is obvious. Unfortunately, our first reaction is to put up our defenses and we retaliate back.

We are so focused on the mistakes of others that we missed the opportunity to look deeper into ourselves and ask – is it me?

Our biggest enemy is our own self. We tend to justify ourselves because we favor our self. We are right, they are wrong.

Another problem is, we limit the love we give. We share our love only up to a certain level. If it reaches that point, we expect something in return before moving further or worst we stop giving love.

We cannot forgive, we cannot accept our mistake and we cannot change, because within our self, they are wrong.

We need to have an inside look. We need to look at the man in the mirror.

What is the reason why I am like this?

The significance of looking at the man in mirror is measured by its helpfulness in moving us towards greater love.

When we are able to see our weaknesses, it is easier for us to love.

The same goes with our finances. We often ask, why don’t I have money?

We justify ourselves that we need the things we buy? The question is, do we really need it or do we just want it?

We need to take a look at our self on how we spend our money and change it. Buy objectively. Learn to identify your needs versus wants.

Find these weaknesses and fix it.

In my case, when I started to look deeper into myself, I found out these weaknesses.

1.) I am the Expert Blamer
2.) I am right, you are wrong.
3.) I know everything.
4.) I love to procrastinate.
5.) I choose the wrong friends.
6.) I fail to simplify my life.

After identifying my weaknesses, I became more aware when these weaknesses creep in.

In my next blog, I will share you how I manage these weaknesses.

How about you my friend?

How do you see the man in the mirror?

Do you find any weakness that you need to change?

God is Great!

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