Luke 4 tells us about the temptations of Christ. I believe that these temptations were allowed to prepare Christ for what was to come. People would be trying to tempt Him to be the Messiah they expected and by facing those kind of temptations at the beginning of His ministry, it was easier to deal with them later when the people asked him to turn the stones to bread, rule the world through military power, and do all kinds of wonders and miracles. The temptations of Christ pointed directly to the expectations that many people had based upon their understanding of prophecy. Jesus passed the test with flying colors and when people put the pressure on, He had already dealt with it. It was not going to be a problem. Then at the end of the temptations, notice what happens in Luke 4.13- And when the devil had ended every temptation, he departed from him until an opportune time. (www.lifejournal.cc)
The devil left defeated and looked for the next opportune time. I have some bad news...he is still doing that kind of thing....to us. He (the devil) is looking for an opportune time to lead us astray. May I challenge you? Let's not give him an opportunity. Let's stand strong for Christ with our eyes on Him and not allow an opportune time in our lives for his tempting games. Let's shed our lives of any habits or hangups that could make us weaker at certain moments.
Does that mean the devil is no longer going to mess with us? Of course not, he is awful. However, we can live our lives in such a way that there are not many 'opportune' times. Let's do it today!
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