Pride leadeth to the fall

Dorothy L. Sayers:

...[T]he head and origin of all sin is the basic sin of Superbia or Pride. .... It is the sin of trying to be as God. It is the sin which proclaims that Man can produce out of his own wits, and his own impulses and his own imagination the standards by which he lives: that Man is fitted to be his own judge. ....

C.S. Lewis:

...[T]he essential vice, the utmost evil, is Pride. Unchastity, anger, greed, drunkenness, and all that, are mere fleabites in comparison. It was through pride that the Devil became the Devil: Pride leads to every other vice. It is the complete anti-God state of mind.

From "God is Opposed to the Proud":

God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.  James 4:6

Think for a moment about how God’s enemies are defined in this verse. The proud. He does not say God opposes the murderers, the adulterers, the liars, or the pedophiles. He says God opposes the proud. Of course, he is opposed to murderers, adulterers, liars, and pedophiles. But there is something deeper to all of those sins and it is something that is present even in people who aren’t in the class of murderers, adulterers, liars and pedophiles. It’s pride.

I can think good thoughts of myself sometimes because I have not done anything terrible in the world’s eyes. And yet to read that God opposes the proud reminds me of my sin and the seriousness with which God takes it. It is the proud that He is opposed to. It is my pride that He is opposed to. It is me in my pride that He is opposed to.

I need to know that. I need that reminder everyday, that God opposes the proud and that I have pride in my heart. I need it so that I can be driven to remember the Gospel of the cross everyday, and so that by His grace I can be humbled.

Ryley Heppner, "God is Opposed to the Proud," TGC (Canada), June 6, 2023.