Self-Deception

Fictional character Stuart Smalley (from Saturday Night Live) started this phrase: "I'm Good Enough, I'm Smart Enough, and Doggone It, People Like Me." It was part of a self-help spoof. The sentiment, though, is no spoof. Most of us think something very much like that. Most of us think of themselves, in the words of Paul, "more highly than he ought to think." (Rom 12:3) And that can get us into trouble.

I'm Good Enough

We buy this, for the most part. We do it at different levels. "Oh, maybe I'm not good enough to be a professional baseball player or singer -- that's one stage -- but you know I'm not as bad as ..." and we'll fill in the name that corresponds with the "good enough" we're aiming for. "I'm not as bad as those liberals" (or "conservatives", depending on your standard of measurement) politically. "I'm not as bad as Hitler" morally. "I'm not as bad as those rich people" economically. "I'm not as bad as that fat oaf over there" athletically. You get the idea. So "not as bad as" becomes "good enough". Sure, we may seek to improve ourselves. We may wish to improve our economic standing or our athletic skill set or whatever, but that's just to be better, not to stop being "not good enough". Because we are "good enough".

The Bible disagrees. That is, God's opinion differs from our own.

Scripture says, "All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God." (Rom 3:23) Paul writes, "None is righteous, no, not one; no one understands; no one seeks for God. All have turned aside; together they have become worthless; no one does good, not even one." (Rom 3:10-12) That doesn't say "No one does good all the time." It says, "No one does good" and emphasizes, "not even one." Good enough? The biblical verdict is "Not good at all." The biblical verdict is not even "sin-sick"; it is "dead trespasses and sin" (Eph 2:1-3).

I'm Smart Enough

This one is ambiguous, thanks to our current post-modern language where words are ambiguous. What is "smart"? Is it "as measured by an IQ test" or is it "as indicated by my ability to think straight"? Or something else? Again, it's a matter of standards, isn't it? What standard do we use to say we're "smart enough"? There are always those who are lower than us on the IQ scale, but, frankly, most of us aren't thinking IQ when we think (feel?) "I'm smart enough." No, we're thinking, "I can think straight." At least, straight enough. We believe we are rational, thinking beings who can see straight, figure straight, think logically step by step to the right conclusion. That's "smart enough". And, in general, we all figure we are, even those of us who don't think we're particularly smart.

The Bible disagrees. God's opinion differs from our own.

Scripture says, "For the mind that is set on the flesh is hostile to God, for it does not submit to God's law; indeed, it cannot." (Rom 8:7) That's "cannot", not merely "does not." Elsewhere we read, "The natural person does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are folly to him, and he is not able to understand them because they are spiritually discerned." (1 Cor 2:14) That's "not able", not "does not." Smart enough to get by? Rational enough to think straight? The biblical position is that human beings are "blinded by the god of this world" (2 Cor 4:4) and suffer from a defective heart (Jer 17:9), broken at the core.

I'm Liked Enough

Whether it's people or God, we're pretty sure we're okay in this category as well. Most people believe that they're liked ... at least liked enough. They're pretty sure that God likes them. I mean, after all, haven't we been told repeatedly that "God loves you"? And we all know that "love" is stronger than "like". So we are liked enough by people and by God, right?

The Bible disagrees. God's opinion differs from our own.

We certainly do have the wonderful assurances that "God loved the world" (John 3:16), but it isn't an unqualified love. More often than "God loves you" we read things like "You hate all evildoers" (Psa 5:5), "The LORD tests the righteous, but his soul hates the wicked and the one who loves violence" (Psa 11:5), and, among the things that God specifically hates (Prov 6:16-19), "a false witness who breathes out lies, and one who sows discord among brothers." We know that God said, "Jacob I loved, but Esau I hated." (Rom 9:13) We like to think God is warm and fuzzy and pats us on the head while we spit in His face. The truth is that God hates sin and those who do it. He opts to place His saving love on those He chooses to save, but we cannot count, in our natural condition, on a kinder, gentler God who will embrace all our rebellion and assume "I'm liked enough by God." It's not a biblical position.

The bottom-line problem, then, is a radical self-deception. We tell ourselves we're okay. We're not. Even as believers who know enough to say, "No, I'm not good enough", we still tend toward the lie. It is deceiving ourselves. We all do it.

The truth, then, sounds harsh. We are not good enough, not smart enough, and God has no obligation to like us at all. When we arrive at this biblical place, then, the sweetness of the good news can comes full force. Christ died for sinners (Rom 5:8), not saints. He didn't come to save the healthy, but the lost (Mark 2:17; Luke 19:10). When we begin to grasp the magnitude of the problem -- the problem that we are -- we can begin to appreciate the magnitude of God's grace who rightly judges but out of His perfect love shows mercy to some. In Jesus's words, "He who is forgiven little loves little." (Luke 7:47) When we think of ourselves as good enough, smart enough, and worthy of God's affection, we sell Him short. When we recognize the truth, God is magnified.