The heart of man pants everlastingly after distinction; and our pride only changes its appearance. Mine, I find, is grown to a goodly size, under the show of humility (Thomas Adam, Private Thoughts on Religion)
“The heart is more deceitful than all else And is desperately sick; Who can understand it?” (Jeremiah 17:9).
This comment by Adam is very insightful and frightfully true. We see this in the way teens dress and the way they behave. We see this in the way adults dress and the way they behave. Human beings, since they are both social creatures and very proud and self-centered creatures by nature, want to stand out and be distinguished in some way. But of course this does not fail to be noticed by some, so their pride of wanting to be different can be hidden by not wanting to be like all those other people who desire distinction by dressing in weird outfits or doing weird things. As noted before, the proud heart of man does not want to be known as proud so it tries to put on humility in order to hide its pride. The outward appearance of humility, however, is nothing but a show of pride as well.
It would appear that there are many who seek their distinction by the things of religion. These can be innovative in worship, evangelism, or preaching. They say that they are there to preach Christ and to see souls saved, but in the depths of their hearts they are just proud men seeking after distinction. Their pride may hide this from them and so they will try to put on the appearance of humility, but God sees the heart. 2 Corinthians 4:5 shows us that Paul saw this as a problem and perhaps many others were doing this as well: “For we do not preach ourselves but Christ Jesus as Lord, and ourselves as your bond-servants for Jesus’ sake.” We see the same thing in Philippians 2:21 where Paul was writing to them and saying why he had no minister to send them: “For they all seek after their own interests, not those of Christ Jesus.” There were even some who preached Christ for the purpose of causing Paul discomfort: “The former proclaim Christ out of selfish ambition rather than from pure motives, thinking to cause me distress in my imprisonment” (Phil 1:17).
How horrible and idolatrous the human heart is that it would have the desire to boast in itself and preach Christ in such a way for the motives of self, but then again what a horrible and idolatrous thing it is to live in such a way as to try to distinguish self. The religion of the Pharisees appeared to be a practice where they were in competition with each other to see who could get the most attention in prayer, in fasting, and the giving of alms (see Matthew 6:1ff). They prayed in order to be seen by men and they fasted in order to be seen by men. They gave alms in order to be seen by men. In other words, these men were proud in their religion and sought to distinguish themselves in the things of religion. In the eyes of God these things are an abomination.
It has been noted by others that men are so proud that they try to hide their pride behind a show of humility. Perhaps this deceives others, but it can also deceive self. But it will never deceive God. To put it bluntly, when men try to hide their pride behind a fake or feigned humility, that is a growing pride. Nothing but a proud heart that is deceiving itself could ever think that it could fool God or hide its pride from God with a feigned or pretend humility. It is an act of atheism itself. How we need to fall on our faces before God and ask Him to deliver us from pride rather than try to cover up our hearts by it.
God Loves... Himself 
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