Psalm 49:20 "Man cannot abide in his pomp, he is like the beasts that perish."

When we live for money, luxury, comfort, personal glory, or the like, we become less and less like God and more and more like soulless beasts. The things that we think are making us happy are in fact consuming our soul, the only thing that sets us apart from the other animals, the thing that makes us God-like. This is why it is not easy for a rich man to gain heaven - it is very difficult not to not let wealth consume us.

Turning away from the pomp of the world is so hard, but so necessary. It is especially hard today, when we are bombarded by technology that constantly puts "pomp" front and center. We see everyone else presenting themselves as if they are "living the life" in all their pomp, and we want it for ourselves. But if we were really seeing their lives as they truly are, we would see they have just as many problems as we do, if not more. Their pomp is not making them happy, only God can make us happy, and pomp competes with God for our souls. As we devote more of ourselves to our pomp, our circumstances become more and more dire.

C.S. Lewis said that it is foolish to seek happiness apart from God, because there is no such thing: "God designed the human machine to run on Himself. He Himself is the fuel our spirits were designed to burn, or the food our spirits were designed to feed on. There is no other. That is why it is just no good asking God to make us happy in our own way without bothering about religion. God cannot give us a happiness and peace apart from Himself, because it is not there. There is no such thing." (Mere Christianity, bk. II, chap. 3, para. 7, cited at Cold and Lonely Truth).