Narrative Lectionary Key Verse for Today
“Discipline yourselves, keep alert. Like a roaring lion your adversary the devil prowls around, looking for someone to devour. Resist him, steadfast in your faith, for you know that your brothers and sisters in all the world are undergoing the same kinds of suffering.”
NL Daily Devotion for Thursday, August 11, 2022
by R. M. Fergus, Clergy Stuff
That lion, though. What a vivid image. I don’t mean to be silly but I have seen my cat stalk prey (usually a catnip toy) and it’s, frankly, beautiful—the movement of his body as he sinks low to the floor, the giant pools of his eyes taking in every detail, his ears pricked forward, his tail whipping back and forth with ferocity. One could almost forget the absolute deadliness of this perfectly-created predator. Yet he is deadly.
Far be it from me to associate any of God’s stunning creatures with evil, but the metaphor is apt. Evil, as I see it, is seldom physically ugly. In fact, it tends to be beautiful, seductive, like money and material possessions, for example. It takes discipline and alertness to see things as they really are—to recognize the true ugliness beneath the façade, and the danger of trusting in things that will certainly devour us if we remain oblivious.
Meanwhile, I will continue to enjoy the beauty (and silliness) of my little orange predator who may be deadly, but is not at all evil. Well, most of the time.
How do I recognize evil in the world? What does it look like? How can I open my eyes to its true nature?