Mere Christianity by C.S. Lewis is a classic. I am amazed at how many people (myself included) have been profoundly affected by this small book, both before and after conversion. One of the most confronting parts of the book is the section entitled ‘The Great Sin’. Here are some excerpts:
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.
According to Christian teachers, the essential vice, the utmost evil, is Pride. 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.
Is pride really ‘the utmost evil’ and ‘the complete anti-God state of mind’? It’s a big call to say immorality, anger, greed, drunkenness, and the like are mere fleabites in comparison. That’s saying a prostitute is potentially in a better place spiritually than a proud religious sister, and the town drunk is closer to God than a church elder with no humility. Is Lewis going over the top to make a point? Does God actually hate pride that much?
To find out how much God hates pride we need to look at its direct opposite, humility. If God absolutely loves humility, then you can be assured He absolutely hates pride. So how important is humility? According to Jesus Christ it is the foundational virtue.
His humility is our salvation. His salvation is our humility. – Andrew Murray, Humility (p. 6)
How can an omnipotent God be ‘born in the likeness of men’? (See Philippians 2:6-8) Being clothed in humility enabled God to clothe Himself in humanity. Humility is what made the miracle of the incarnation possible. Humility is how ‘myth became fact’ (another great Lewis essay). Humility is an integral part of God’s very nature, and it is the first step in the salvation process.
God getting inside human skin is mind-blowing enough, but the humility demonstrated at the first Christmas was so much more than that. Jesus could have incarnated Himself as a fully grown man (like the first Adam) and part of an educated royal family. He could have appeared on the scene in power, with respect and honour. But the humble God of the universe chose to be born in a feeding trough as a helpless, totally dependent baby in an obscure Middle Eastern town. His humility, just like His power, knows no bounds.
Humility, not love or wisdom, was Jesus Christ’s first message for humanity. And no one knew it more than Mary. This message was preached to her every time she held the God Child in her arms. I’m sure she often thought to herself, ‘How can this be possible? Can I really be holding the Saviour of the world?’ But then she would remember the angel and her miraculous conception and then, I’m sure, the wonder of God’s humility would engulf her again.
Jesus taught about the Kingdom of God for three short years, but He taught humility His whole life through and demonstrated it completely by ‘becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross’. Jesus Christ’s willingness to serve His rebellious creation and go to the Cross puts God’s humility on a level that defies words.
Pride truly is ‘the complete anti-God state of mind’. Anyone with reservations about pride being ‘utmost evil’ has not understood God’s nature or the salvation process. The magnitude of God’s humility illuminates the magnitude of our pride. I’m shocked at how proud I actually am. Pride seems to have infiltrated and infected every part of my life. I have found it both in my acceptance and refusal of compliments. Pride has caused me to do things, like criticise, and not do things, like apologise. It has puffed me up when I gained knowledge and deflated me with self pity when I lacked it. My pride knows no bounds. I have even been proud that I was humble. I took the low road and then admired how much better I was for doing so!
Pride has caused my worst spiritual torment. It pits me against God and deprives me of what I need the most, grace. 1 Peter 5:5 says, ‘Clothe yourselves, all of you, with humility toward one another, for ‘God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble’. There is nothing worse than having the all-powerful God of the universe oppose you. Pride is Satan’s gift to humanity. He is eager for me to accept it because pride prevents me from knowing the One he hates the most, my Saviour.
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. - C.S. Lewis, ‘Mere Christianity’
So what’s the solution? The more I try not to be proud the worse it seems to get. Constantly thinking ‘I must not be proud, I must be humble’ does not work because the focus of my attention is still me. The solution is to think about others; more importantly, think about God. While I think about God and the great things He has done, I can’t be thinking about myself. Without thoughts of self, pride is starved of its food and will quietly start to die without its host being aware. When I start to become aware of my humility, I can be assured; pride just enjoyed its first meal.
Humility is thinking less about yourself, not thinking less of yourself. — Peter Kreeft, ‘Back to Virtue’
Pride is, without doubt, my worst enemy. Pride transformed a free-thinking glorious angel into a devil. And it will do the same to me if I give it place in my life. God not only hates pride because of its satanic origin but also because it directly opposes His foundational virtue of humility. Humility leads to salvation; pride leads to hell. The way of humility leads straight to the Cross. Calvary is the key to killing my pride. I must openly kneel, broken, at the foot of the Cross and humbly receive the sacrifice Christ made especially for me.