Michael Green in his classic work, I Believe in Satan's Downfall, says that the Scriptures seriously warn us of a malign power of evil standing behind the pressures of a worldly culture without and a sinful human nature within the Christian. This does not mean that we can excuse responsibility for bad human behavior by blaming it on the devil. The world, the flesh and the devil, as three separate sources of evil, have formed a crucial part of Christian teaching from the very beginning.

C.S. Lewis wrote, "I fully agree that the relationship between God and a man is more private and intimate than any possible relation between two fellow creatures. Yes, but at the same time there is, in another way, a greater distance between the participants. ...

But what if there was something more than just a material description of the good life? What if there was a fuller life beyond material prosperity? What if you were missing out on something that you didn't even know about? What if God intended more than just a good life for you but intended a fuller life? Wouldn't you want to experience it? Of course you would, and so would I.

This is the analogy Jesus uses to remind us that we are helpless in the face of those things that prey upon us, those things which threaten our security, those things which frighten us and destroy our peace, those things that seek to snatch us out of the hand of God and destroy our faith, hope and love.