Pride, the original sin of the fallen angels, is the first of the seven chief vices because all sin is rooted in pride. The simple act of thinking it’s okay to sin in even the smallest of matters stems from the vice of pride.

The vice of pride is a disposition of putting the will of self before the will of God.

Scripture warns, “No servant can serve two masters. He will either hate one and love the other, or be devoted to one and despise the other…” (Luke 16:13). The more you put your will before God’s will, the more you become a worshiper of self and a rejector of God. You cannot serve the kingdom of self and the kingdom of God. One must die. One must be dethroned.

Pride makes you self-centered, self-indulgent, convinced you are self-made. It leads you to think you are better than others—know better than others—know better than God Himself. Instead of living the truth that every gift given, every trial endured, every breath and heartbeat is by the grace of God, pride tempts you to believe the lie that it’s all by your own self-doing.

Sometimes pride shows itself in obvious ways—arrogance, vanity, entitlement. But more often, it hides beneath the surface. It looks like the refusal to forgive. The desire to be seen. The need to be right. The resistance to correction. The craving for control. It’s the silent inward posture that says, “My will be done.”

Consider this: “Satan disguises submission to himself under the ruse of personal autonomy. He never asks us to become his servants. Never once did the serpent say to Eve, ‘I want to be your master.’ The shift in commitment is never from Christ to evil; it is always from Christ to self. And instead of His will, self-interest now rules, and what I want reigns. And that is the essence of sin” (Dennis F. Kinlaw).

If you don’t guard against pride, it will quietly take root in your soul. It will convince you to dethrone God and place yourself on the seat of highest authority. It will inflate your ego and shrink your dependence. It will cloud your judgment, choke your gratitude, and twist your heart inward until you no longer see God as your source—but only as a backup plan when your strength runs out.

But the truth is—your strength will run out.

That’s why the strongest weapons against pride are the virtues of faith and humility. Faith reminds you that God is your source. Humility reminds you that you are not. Faith trusts in God’s strength; humility confesses your weakness. Pride says, “I deserve.” Humility says, “I’ve been given.” Pridefulness exalts self. Faithfulness exalts God. Together, they protect your soul from the tyranny of self.

It is said, “It was pride that changed angels into devils; it is humility that makes men as angels” (St. Augustine). For the soul ruled by pride becomes disordered—curved in upon itself. And the more you feed it, the more it grows, until it suffocates your dependence on grace. But the faithful soul that humbles itself before God is like a vessel emptied and made ready to receive.

We all battle the swelling of pride. Stay alert. Don’t give in to it. Pride can slip in through the smallest cracks—through praise, success, comparison, even false humility. When recognized, return the glory to God by whispering to yourself, “God is everything, and I am nothing without Him.”

So resist pride. Crucify it daily. Do not let it take root in your thoughts, your decisions, or your heart. Fight pride with faith and humility—for those in heaven are the humble, and those in hell, the proud.

Let Christ be enthroned where pride once reigned. Bow low before the throne of God, and you will be lifted high—not by your own hand, but by His.