When you think of evil, what do you imagine? Do you imagine a scary image such as some of the demons or so-called demonic depictions in the movies, or do you imagine someone like Jeffrey Dahmer. Below is a clip from the TV series “Supernatural” that airs on The CW. The two main characters in the clip are Sam Winchester who, along with his brother Dean, (not seen here) travels the country fighting demons. The other is one of their powerful foes “the yellowed-eyed demon”.  (Warning: scene may be too intense for the faint-hearted)

Is the yellow-eyed demon something like you imagined evil to look like? Maybe evil looks more like the image below. The image is of the video taken outside the Target store of the suspect who abducted eighteen year old Kelsey Smith a Kansas City girl who was subsequently found dead.

I suspect evil looks much more like the video image of the murder suspect than the “yellow-eyed demon” from Supernatural. But regardless of what it looks like it does exists in the world today.  

I am currently reading through Romans, and yesterday in chapter eight I encountered something that gave me some more understanding of evil in the world and how we respond to it. In Romans 8:19-21 we read:

19 For the creation waits with eager longing for the revealing of the sons of God. 20 For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of Him who subjected it, in hope 21 that creation itself will be set free from its bondage to corruption and obtain the freedom of the glory of the children of God.

From this passage we can see that there is hope that evil will not always exist on the earth. But evil does exist and creation longs to be free from it’s bondage to corruption. This bondage happened when Adam sinned and God cursed creation because of it. The freedom from this bondage will happen when the children of God are revealed and glorified. This is the end of all things, where a new heaven and a new earth will be created. There will no more evil, no more preditors, and no more sadness. The lion will lay down with the lamb and the cobra and child will play together. This is the promise from God in which we hope for. Until this time we will continue to read and experience evil in this world.

I am saddened and concerned by the story of Kelsey Smith. I think we all are, especially when it happens so close to where we live. I have two daughters, and I can only warn them and pray for them to be careful about where they go when they are by themselves. Because evil is out there, and I doubt that it looks like the “yellow-eyed demon” in the clip above. I believe it looks more like you and me.