I love hanging wallpaper! I really enjoy it.  I like that it’s fussy and that you have to get it right.  I like the fact that even though I have never done a perfect job, it is at least theoretically possible to get it just perfect.  I like it because of the instant gratification:  from blah to decorated in one simple process! 

What I really love about hanging wallpaper is that when the last piece is hung the job is done.

Completed.  Over. Finished. 

How many tasks are ever really done?  Laundry? Get real!   Cleaning? You wish!  Parenting? It just morphs from diapers and car pools to biting your tongue and praying harder.  How about your job?  Are you ever really done with your work?  I didn’t think so. 

Hanging wallpaper is looking better all the time, isn’t it?

You know what else is never done?  Our need to resist the forces of evil.  Wouldn’t it be great to say: “I have no more battles to fight with evil; no more temptations to resist; no more injustice or hunger or oppression that demands my action.” 

After his baptism, Jesus spent 40 days in the wilderness, resisting the temptations of the devil.  He never faltered.  Evil found no foothold in Jesus.  So Jesus was all done with that temptation business, right?  No more need to resist evil.  Think again.  Luke tells us the real story (Luke 4:13):

“When the devil had finished every test, he departed from him until an opportune time.”

Jesus continued to face temptation from time to time throughout his earthly life, just like us. 

We know what ‘opportune times’ for temptation are, don’t we:  when we are tired and lonely, discouraged and afraid, thinking of our selves instead of trusting in God. 

Prayer:Lord, strengthen us against the times of trial.  Let our hearts be hidden in you and keep our minds focused on doing your will so that we will be ready to resist evil, whenever it comes.  Amen.