The Restlessness of Pride – quotes for reflection

Quotes & Reflections:

“Hubris is the first and most popular form of idolatry. But all forms of idolatry involve us deeply in folly…If we try to fill our hearts with anything besides the God of the universe, we find that we are overfed but undernourished, and we find that day by day, week by week, year after year, we are thinning down to a mere outline of a human being.” — Cornelius Plantinga Jr., Not the Way It’s Supposed to Be: A Breviary of Sin

“And what is pride but the craving for undue exaltation? And this is undue exaltation, when the soul abandons Him to whom it ought to cleave as its end, and becomes a kind of end to itself. This happens when it becomes its own satisfaction. And it does so when it falls away from that unchangeable good which ought to satisfy it more than itself.” — St. Augustine of Hippo, City of God 

“From a Christian view of the world, here is one of the deepest motives of perfectionism: the desire to be ruler of our own world and to make sure we are in control. Freud was so close to the truth when he said that the heart of all human problems was the Oedipus complex, a man’s desire to get rid of his father, the authority in his life. Freud, of course, mean our biological, human father. The Bible defines the root problem as rebellion and hardness of heart toward our heavenly father (Rom 1:21-25).” — Richard Winter, Perfecting Ourselves to Death

“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

Devotional Preparation:

Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.” — Matthew 11:28-30 (ESV)