1 John 2:16

For all that is in the world--the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life--is not of the Father but is of the world.

These three categories of sinful pursuits are enemies to any soul who desires to follow Jesus. Each one is worshipped as a god by many people. The "pride of life" represents our desire to "be somebody", to have other people recognize how great we are, to feel in our minds that we are great.

The pull that we have to serve this "pride of life god" is like maintaining a bonfire. At our worst, we have a twisted obsession with building this fire as bright as we can. Opportunities for achievement, compliments from other people, and recognition in various forms such as awards can all serve as forms of firewood. We spend many a day with our eyes wide open for opportunities to gather this firewood and we love to throw it on the fire for all to see. We also are protective of this fire. When we have it going at its best, we feel most vulnerable anything or anyone that might throw water on it, and we are worried that we will not have enough firewood to keep it from getting dim. This "pride of life god" is cruel, indeed, to serve him is to be miserable.