Pride
Pride leads to every other vice: it is the complete anti-God state of mind.
Mere Christianity, C. S. Lewis
Pride is the essential vice, the mother of all other vices. All other vices pale in comparison to pride; all other vices gain their footing due to pride. It was through pride, after all, that the devil became the devil.
The Christians are right: it is Pride which has been the chief cause of misery in every nation and every family since the world began.
Other vices might bring people together, at least superficially: for example, drunkenness can bring good fellowship and friendliness. But pride always means enmity – enmity between man and man, and enmity between man and God.
As long as you are proud you cannot know God.
Proud men look down on others. But looking down means you aren’t looking up – up to something higher, better…God. Proud men can say that believe in God, can act very religious – but they are worshipping an imaginary God, one made in their image.
Whenever we find that our religious life is making us feel that we are good – above all, that we are better than someone else – I think we may be sure that we are being acted upon, not by God, but by the devil.
In the presence of God, we cannot have pride: we can either forget about ourself completely, or we can see ourself as a small, dirty object. Lewis says it is better to see the former – to forget about ourself. In other words, humility. To forget about one’s self is to be humble – and this is the opposite of pride.
Yet, humility is not something we can achieve on our own. “I have made myself humble!” It does not – it cannot – work that way. This foundational virtue can only be had through God and His work in us. We cannot create in us humility any more than we can grant ourselves salvation.
Lewis offers some cautions – regarding different ways we use the word “pride”:
Pleasure in being praised is not pride.
When Christ says “Well done,” our pleasure does not lie in what we have done but in the fact of having pleased someone we wished to please. The trouble comes when you start thinking about what a fine person you are for having pleased Him (or anyone else).
Further, the darker pride is when you find yourself looking down on others, so much that you don’t care at all what they think of you. Yes, we do not care if the question is one of pleasing God vs. pleasing man. Otherwise, such pride puffs up – holding ourselves as better, more worthy, etc.
…a man is ‘proud’ of his son, or his father, or his school, or his regiment…
Such pride is also not a sin. When the word ‘pride’ is used this way, it means something like a warm-hearted admiration for the subject.
We must not think Pride is something God forbids because He is offended at it, or that Humility is something He demands due to His own dignity – as if God Himself was proud.
The point is straightforward: when we understand something of who God is, and what He has done for us, we cannot help but be humble. In other words, pride places us in a place above God; humility is a sign that we understand our relationship with Him.
Conclusion
If anyone would like to acquire humility, I can, I think, tell him the first step. The first step is to realise that one is proud.
If you think you are not proud (if I think I am not proud), then this is a sure sign that you are. For me, after this comes dwelling on the Cross (with all that entails) and prayer.
Epilogue
I have written several posts on this topic of pride and humility. For those who are newer to this blog, I offer the following:
Andrew Murray, Humility: The Journey Toward Holiness
Also, at my bibliography, pretty much anything on the Sermon on the Mount, especially the Beatitudes.