There is one vice of which no man in the world is free; which every one in the world loathes when he sees it in someone else; and of which hardly any people, except Christians, ever imagine that they are guilty themselves. I have heard people admit that they are bad-tempered, or that they cannot keep their heads about girls or drink, or even that they are cowards. I do not think I have ever heard anyone who was not a Christian accuse himself of this vice. And at the same time I have very seldom met anyone, who was not a Christian, who showed the slightest mercy to it in others. There is no fault which makes a man more unpopular, and no fault which we are more unconscious of in ourselves. And the more we have it ourselves, the more we dislike it in others.
The vice I am talking of is Pride or Self-Conceit: and the virtue opposite to it, in Christian morals, is called Humility…Unchastity, anger, greed, drunkenness, and all that, are mere fleabites in comparison: it was through Pride that the devil became the devil: Pride leads to every other vice: it is the complete anti-God state of mind.
Pride gets no pleasure out of having something, only out of having more of it than the next man. We say that people are proud of being rich, or clever, or good-looking, but they are not. They are proud of being richer, or cleverer, or better-looking than others.
Mere Christianity, C.S. Lewis
Pride reared its ugly head in the first sin that was ever committed, it appears to be the essence of all sin, and, it is often considered the most serious sin. We cannot even begin to fathom the intensity of God’s hatred for pride. We hate many things: we hate child abuse, we hate racism, we hate adultery, but regardless of what we hate, we cannot hate anything like God hates pride. Why does He hate pride? When we have pride, we are turning our hearts against God and contending for supremacy with Him. We, the created, refuse to acknowledge our dependence on Him and aspire to put ourselves in the position of the creator.
As Lewis states, we are far more aware of pride in others than in ourselves. Rather than questioning whether pride exists in our hearts, our efforts would be better spent admitting its presence and focusing on where it is and how it exists. Pride will never satisfy us- it will always leave us wanting more.
Just as God so intensely despises pride, he so affectionately adores humility. What makes Jesus so attractive is his unmatched, divine humility.
It was GOD on the cross: GOD- who reduced himself to a servant and gave us salvation in an act of utmost humility. God makes the humble powerful and leaves the pride powerless. The same hand that crushes the proud, upholds the humble. When we operate in pride, we forget the divine value of humility. We become so mesmerized by our own image that we are unable to be mesmerized by the humble grace of God.
What pride had he, born in a manger? What pride had he, sold by his own disciple? What pride had he, betrayed by a kiss? What pride had he, denied three times? What pride had he, when sentenced the gruesome, publically humiliating death penalty reserved for the most atrocious of criminals? None-None at all.