Satan Is Working Overtime...

Luke 4:13 And when the devil had ended every temptation, he departed from him until an opportune time.
When I was a young teacher at a Christian school, and the kids were acting badly, or things were going wrong, we would sit in staff prayer meetings and often hear our principal say that "Satan is working overtime!"  Sometimes living as a follower of Christ can seem like one struggle after another, and we flatter ourselves by saying that Satan seems to be working overtime all the time. But the reality is that we make many of our own day-to-day problems. We like to say "the devil made me do it," when in fact is was our own sinfulness or foolishness.  Not so with Jesus. He never sinned or acted foolishly. But what we do see is that Satan did, and does, seem to take advantage of opportunities - times when we may be most vulnerable. These are not the low points as much as the high. Jesus was setting out on a career ministry, so this was one opportunity. Others would come after He had a great following and when He faced the tough decisions of the passion. But as for the day-to-day struggles of life, Jesus spent time with the Father, and was pretty clear-cut on His journey. So this new year may be an "opportunity" for the evil one to discourage us from even trying, but let's not make everyday choices a stomping ground to give him credit.