Reflect — Pride

Lesson Reading

Read alongside this lesson: Letters 14 and 24, with Letter 13 in support.

Why these. Letter 14 is the central pride letter. The patient has become genuinely humble, and Screwtape's counter is to make him notice it: "By Jove! I'm being humble," and pride springs up at the very moment of humility. The letter also exposes the false definition of humility as a low opinion of oneself, rather than self-forgetfulness. Letter 24 turns to spiritual pride and social pride, the sweetness of belonging to an inner ring, of "we Christians" quietly meaning "my set." Letter 13 supports both, showing how the patient's recovered repentance can be sterilized if it never moves into action.

Discussion and Reflection Questions

  1. In Letter 14, Screwtape's whole strategy against a newly humble man is simply to make him aware that he is being humble. Explain how that works. Why is pride so quick to feed on the very moment a person grows humble?

  2. Screwtape wants the patient to believe humility means having a low opinion of his own gifts, rather than self-forgetfulness. Where have you misunderstood humility this way, pretending to think less of a gift God actually gave you? How is that a form of dishonesty rather than humility?

  3. In Letter 24, the danger is spiritual pride: the warm pleasure of belonging to an inner ring, where "we Christians" really means "my set," "the people with whom I associate by right." Where do you feel that pull in the church, the quiet satisfaction of being on the inside? Be specific.

  4. Scripture roots true humility in a single fact: "What do you have that you did not receive? If then you received it, why do you boast as if you did not receive it?" (1 Corinthians 4:7). How does receiving everything from God as a gift dismantle both the pride of talent and the pride of belonging?

  5. Lewis says God wants a man so free of bias in his own favor that he can rejoice in his own gifts as gladly as in his neighbor's, or in a sunrise. Test yourself: can you rejoice when someone else is praised for a thing you are good at? What does your honest reaction reveal about where pride still lives in you?

  6. Letter 13 warns that repentance can be sterilized if it never turns into action: "active habits are strengthened by repetition but passive ones are weakened." Where have you felt genuine conviction about pride but never acted on it? What has all that feeling-without-acting done to you?

  7. Application: name one concrete act of humility you can do this week that no one will see, something that serves another and gets you no credit. Pride hates a humility that cannot be admired. What is the act, and when will you do it?