the back door

Evil doesn't enter by the front door.  That would be too obvious.  It doesn't announce to our conscious, alert, guarded mind that it intends to direct us to go its way.  We are ready for anyone who comes to the front door with a knock or ring of the door bell and we certainly won't allow evil to get past us that way.  So evil sneaks around back and finds a window left unlocked or a back door he can jimmy open.  He doesn't come in with a welcome.  He simply enters and lurks and looks for vulnerable prey after sizing up the valuables in the home.  He isn't interested in taking wealth to spend it elsewhere...he simply wants to take what isn't his and cause damage and destruction.  Evil is real.  Just as Good is real.  Evil is the expression of God's enemy, the devil, who is the antithesis of God.  Rather than giving life and creation, granting purpose and peace, the devil wants to destroy what God has fashioned and take away hope and peace.  We have seen evidence of evil in recent tragedies in Colorado and Wisconsin and Arizona last year.  This has been evidence of evil coming in the back door of individual minds, finding vulnerable territory to exploit and gaining horrific influence.   By its nature, evil is irrational.  We are at a loss to explain its action apart from a rebellion that has been playing out in the spiritual dimension across time.  We all have "back doors" and we need to be vigilant for unwanted intruders.  We also need to find spiritual wholeness in the Lord and maintain spiritual health.  The manifestation of evil should not surprise us, but neither must it consume us.

1 Peter 5:⁸ Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour. ⁹ Resist him, steadfast in the faith, knowing that the same sufferings are experienced by your brotherhood in the world. ¹⁰ But may the God of all grace, who called us to His eternal glory by Christ Jesus, after you have suffered a while, perfect, establish, strengthen, and settle you.

blessings,

Rob Smith