Stuart Smalley had a famous skit on “Saturday Night Live” in which he did affirmations to empower himself and his famous line was, “I’m good enough.  I’m smart enough. And doggone it, people like me.”  It was funny because it struck a familiar note with many people.  There is a great temptation among all of us to think of ourselves as “good enough”.  There is a subtle deception in the world that convinces us that we are self-sufficient and that if we can convince ourselves of our own goodness then that will be “good enough”.  Following this path of deception we create our own laws and standards for ourselves since we are “good enough” to decide on our own what is right and what is wrong, what is good and what is evil.  In doing these banal affirmations we establish for ourselves that we don’t need anyone to tell us what is good or evil.  In fact, the cause of all of our problems has been that someone has set standards for us that are too high and we are just bound to fail and then think poorly of ourselves.  So we must affirm to ourselves that we are “good enough” and this will be the secret to our happiness.  Just do what you think is right and then you will be a good person.  The irony of this is that we know deep down that there is a subtle lie in this.  Life is more than being “good enough”.  Convincing ourselves that something is true is not the same as living in truth.  Happiness is not found in creating our own illusions of power through self-empowerment.  Happiness is not rooted in “self-love”.   Certainly this idea of “good enough” and self-love as self-sufficiency does not come from God and his revealed word.  So where might it come from.  Dana Carvey, as the “Church Lady” from SNL would certainly help us to identify the source of this deception, “Could it be, SATAN.”

     The temptations of Satan are subtle and deceptive.  Adam and Eve found that out the hard way.  Satan convinced them that they did not have to listen to God’s law or to his commandments.  They were “good enough” in themselves to decide which tree that they could or couldn’t eat from.  They were “good enough” to eat from the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil, and decide for themselves what was good and what was evil.  They were “good enough” to be equal to God.  They were wrong.  Their sin lead to the downfall of the human race and allowed death to enter into the world.  When we love ourselves more than we love God our lives take a serious turn for the worse.

     The temptation for “good enough” is a temptation to settle into a mediocrity in life.  We no longer strive for holiness or for a love that is real and life-giving.  We just want to see ourselves as “good enough” and settle for a mediocre existence.  There is no joy in “good enough” and our ideas of what is good fall far short of the true good which is God alone.  In the Book of Revelation, the angel of God describes our “good enough” as being lukewarm and disagreeable and insulting to Jesus.  Jesus is always speaking to us of the “more” that God the Father wants from us.  “Isn’t life more…” Jesus often asks us and “how much more…” Jesus is always comparing the will of God to our worldly desires.  God has in mind something “more” for us in life, an abundant life of love and grace.  When Jesus is tempted by Satan to be self-sufficient, rich and powerful and a hero to others, Jesus responds by reminding Satan that there is something “more” in God’s will for us as human beings.  God has in mind for us an abundant and eternal life that is the fruit of a life lived in holiness and love.

     Often temptation comes from something that looks good to us as it did to Eve when she looked at the fruit of the forbidden tree and she “saw that the tree was good for food, pleasing to the eyes, and desirable for gaining wisdom.”  Rather than obedience to God’s will she chose to follow her own sense of what is good.

     As we enter into Lent we are led into the desert for forty days to face our own temptations.  During this time we choose for ourselves certain sacrifices and renunciations that are offered to God as oblations of love.   On our Lenten journey we strive for holiness and purity of heart so that we might experience this greater love as we grow in our love for God.

     We will not be happy with a mediocre human life or Christian journey, we need to challenge ourselves to seek a greater love in obedience to God’s will for our lives.  We don’t want to just settle for “good enough” but we strive for the “more” of holiness and God’s grace.  So it is time to “give up something for Lent” in order to prepare ourselves for the “more” of Easter joy.