From C.S. Lewis…

“It is Pride which has been the chief cause of misery in every nation and every family since the world began . . . Pride always means enmity – it is enmity. And not only enmity between man and man, but enmity to God.

In God you come up against something which is in every respect immeasurably superior to yourself. Unless you know God as that – and therefore know yourself as nothing in comparison – you do not know God at all. As long as you are proud you cannot know God. A proud man is always looking down on things and people; and, of course, as long as you are looking down, you cannot see something that is above you.

That raises a terrible question. How is it that a people who are quite obviously eaten up with Pride can say they believe in God and appear to themselves so religious? I am afraid it means they are worshipping an imaginary God.”

C.S. Lewis, Mere Christianity, (New York: Collier Books, 1986), 96.

That last description hits close to home as it sounds like the masses that flock to 21^st century churches.

Do you know anyone who seems religious and yet is eaten up with pride? They unashamedly pursue personal gain. They have contrived of a god who will accept and even glory in their pursuit of themselves. Ouch.

Do these statements describe you?