When demons are right...

C.S. Lewis writes of a demon mentor named Screwtape who advises his protege to remember and take advantage of the weak human nature in the face of minor annoyances. We can be easily swayed from seeing the body of Christ by focusing on inconveniences in ‘the stream of real life.’ When the people sitting next to us at church have double chins, or odd clothes, or sing out of tune, we don’t look at them as fellow saints that each have a different story of redemption, we only see a group of people that grate on our nerves by their mere proximity. Over the last few weeks, I have inwardly resented one of my classmates in a music class for the way that he dominated the discussion with off-topic tangents accompanied by awkward commentary. If I’m truly honest, I might not have been as quick to judge if he hadn’t been wearing socks with his Tevas, and a tee shirt tucked into jeans that were slightly too short. Yesterday one of my girlfriends mentioned his name in passing, and I was about to unload some of my comic negative complaints about his personality when she said, “You know, he has come such a long way. It’s really amazing how he has overcome the challenges of Asperger’s Syndrome in social situations and in the classroom.” A ball of guilt and remorse formed in my stomach. I had judged him for something that he not only couldn’t help, but also had worked hard to overcome. Screwtape would have been proud. Instead of extending the hand of friendship, and asking about his story, I was distracted by his clothing and turned away from his uncomfortable conversation. May God give me the grace to avoid this smug condescension that changes my faith into hypocrisy.