What role does Satan play?

Now I am starting to think that a lot of the things that we put on the devil should really be on us. I do believe that Satan is something real but we put way too much on him/that and not enough on ourselves.

Take for example my homeboy D. He is not what I would call a devout Christian but he does call on the lord in a jam. This is not a judgment call, I am just stating a fact. Anyway, he will be the first person to cry devil if he has a flat tire, or his hair is messing up. This is funny to me. People think that the devil is sitting around plotting ways to make you late for church or miss a meeting. Some of this stuff that the devil is blamed for is really just a part of life. We are spiritual beings having a human experience and in that human experience, things happen. Sometimes your car won't start or sometimes you can't find that tie you like. These things I would argue are not the devil but in fact are just a side effect of life. Things are gonna happen.

Another group of people are like me grandma. She is a holy roller in every since of the word. To her, the devil is also out to mess you up. In her mind tho, he mostly messes with finances. Like, he will "make" you overdraw your banking account or he will have your phone turned off. She likes to take herself out of the equation so the fact that the account is overdrawn has nothing to do with the fact that she didn't balance her check book. Oh no, this is a trick of the enemy! And the phone getting cut off has nothing to do with the fact that she didn't pay her bill on time. She would rather shout things like, "The devil is a liah(liar)!" In this case again, people fail to take responsibility for the situations that they put themselves in. It is much easier to blame it on the devil. Sometimes I imagine the devil sitting on a corner with his head in his hands. Sad that the whole world is blaming him for things that he has nothing to do with.

Now, don't get me wrong, I do believe that Satan is real. He's just not involved in he things that we think he is. I would much rather imagine that he devil is busy manipulating power structures to keep one group of people down while elevating another. He has his hand in the worlds governments oppressing anybody that is trying to liberate people with the word of God. He is setting things up for the eventual rise of the antichrist. With all that on his plate, I just don't think he has time to put a run in your stocking.

And then it gets a little deeper for me. Now I am even wondering if some of the thoughts that come into our very brains are the devil or are they our own evil? I mean, the bible says that we are sinful. Born into it even, so some of the things that we try to place on the devil are really our true selves. I think that the evil that is already in us can be capitalized on by the devil...or his imps, if you will, but the base is already in us. For example, I like to have sex. When I see somebody that I think looks good, sexual thoughts will come. Now many Christians would say that that is just the devil but I argue that it is just me. I am a human and a sexual being so when I see something that looks good, nature will start to take it's course. Now, I think that we can allow evil to take that natural thing and build upon it. When I take that attraction and then start to fantasize about what I would do if I had that, I am leaning into lust. That is from the evil one but the attraction is just natural.

Anyway, the whole point of this is to just discuss the idea that the devil is not as involved as we think. Some of the things that we place on him just possibly could be our own evil and irresponsibility.