The Battle For Uniqueness

From The Screwtape Letters-Screwtape Proposes a Toast by C. S. Lewis

Screwtape, a mentor demon in the Lewis' classic, is addressing junior demons at "...the annual dinner of the Tempters' Training College for young Devils" by reciting the story of a Greek dictator who has requested advice from a fellow dictator.

"The second dictator led the envoy into a field of corn, and there he snicked off with his cane the top of every stalk that rose an inch or so above the general level. The moral was plain. Allow no pre-eminence among your subjects. Let no man live who is wiser, or better, or more famous, or even handsomer than the mass. Cut them all down to a level; all slaves, all ciphers, all nobodies. All equals."

Romans 2:10-12 clearly tells us we are all equals in the eyes of God.

"But glory and honor and [heart] peace shall be awarded to everyone who [habitually] does good, the Jew first and also the Greek (Gentile). For God shows no partiality [[a]undue favor or unfairness; with Him one man is not different from another]. All who have sinned without the Law will also perish without [regard to] the Law, and all who have sinned under the Law will be judged and condemned by the Law."

(Amplified Bible)


But this equal status has been twisted by the evil one in order to subdue the uniqueness God has woven into each one of us, and it seems whenever someone rises above the other corn stalks in the field, their stalk is whacked off in order to blend in with the others.

We were not created to live like that!!! Each of us is equally priceless and unique. Each planned with great forethought and perfect skill by the Master Creator, Jesus. How is it then that we lobe off the heads of those who don't look like us, act like us, worship like us?

Have you ever felt like your unique stalk has been knocked off?

I have, and it's a yucky feeling!!!

Holy Spirit, help us to see each other as a unique gifts of God, encouraging each other to stand tall in the way that God has fashioned us. Give us the grace to be who You made us to be, no matter how the evil one may attempt to knock our blocks off. In Jesus' name! AMEN!!!