Reject your sense of injury

I frequently shake my head over something silly I have done or notice around me. It as though I am standing there in just a bit of amazement over the 'stupidity' of my actions or someone else's, wondering just how I ever thought 'that' would work out well for my situation or theirs. I don't know what your 'that' may be, but I do know I don't stand there shaking my head alone as I have observed others shaking theirs, too! It is as though all 'good sense' exited the building and now we are left to deal with whatever the 'lack of good sense' left behind. 

You made me; you created me. Now give me the sense to follow your commands. (Psalm 119:73)

Marcus Aurelius said, "Reject your sense of injury and the injury itself disappears." We can get all upset over injuries others cause us, but we can really get ourselves in a tizzy over the ones we inflict upon ourselves because of our lack of 'good sense'. They say poverty is the mother of crime, but Jean de la Bruyere said the father of it was a lack of good sense. We have much poverty in this world today, not just in the traditional sense of 'financial poverty', but also in the sense of 'spiritual poverty'. Although we have 'religious institutions' abounding, society is still quite lacking in 'good spiritual sense' many times.

The sense to follow God's commands isn't innate - it has to be learned. There is a yearning for God that is 'internal' within each of us because he created us with that 'hole' in our lives that really cannot be adequately filled with anything other than himself. We lack good spiritual sense whenever we reject his commands or alter them to fit our set of ideals. To really embrace his commands, one has to embrace him, allowing him to take control of our thought life, emotions, and even our will. To many, that is a scary thought because they feel 'giving over control' to another is going to 'cramp their style'. Let me assure you of this - you have ZERO style without Jesus! It isn't until he enters that space created just for him that your 'style' really begins to show through!

God made us, creating us with a desire to know him - though we sometimes don't know how to put that 'inner desire' into words - it still drives us to 'find' whatever we sense is missing. Whenever we seek to understand him better, we are going to find him welcoming us into his presence. When we enter his presence, there is a change in perspective that comes into our lives. We begin to see things just a bit differently than we did when we were trying to 'control our style'. We find the 'good sense' we thought we had really wasn't all that 'good' after all. His 'good sense' begins to infiltrate our lives, and we begin to see different actions emerging, as a result. 

We are able to reject the injury we caused ourselves or others brought upon us, and in time, we sense the injury falling away. We find a sense of peace, allowing his commands to define for us what makes 'sense' in a world that sometimes makes very little sense at all. Just sayin!