Becoming An End To Myself

"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." -Augustine

Sometimes my kids and I discuss Theology. They are so black and white, so right and wrong. It would make me laugh if it weren't so scary. So, we discuss Theology and the kids talk about other religions and other faiths... they use words like "their gods" and "our God." They are so innocent, and yet so profound at times. "Daddy, we follow the real God... not the fake god." Like I said, it is both deep and childlike, both funny and scary.

It gets me to thinking about something though. What if I actually believed that the God of the Bible was so holy, so unique, that all other things were just "false gods?" Imagine a world where "the real God" stood alone. Likewise, a world where "fake gods" were exposed and treated as they deserved to be treated, "fake." In that world, surely I would acknowledge God as ruler and king of the universe. However, I would also see through all of the counterfeit deities that suppose themselves to be the God of the Bible. I would rid the world of these evil gods, like a child throwing rocks into a pond. Nothing would prevent me from destroying every idol, toppling every Baal, and stripping every icon in the name of Jehovah!

But then.... I would run into a singular problem. You see, in my quest to rid the world of these false gods, I would have to address a single hurtful truth... "I am the greatest idol in my life. I am the great false god that rules me. I worship myself." This is the problem that so many of us would face. At some point, we became the sacred icon of worship. At some point, we became the idol.

This is what pride is all about. Abandoning Him who created me, who saved me, who is the Alpha and Omega, beginning and end. And I, in his stead, becoming "a kind of end" to myself. This is the problem of life. How can we remove the idols from our lives, when the idols are our lives?