I have observed that there is sometimes confusion over what place pride should play in our lives. As I see it, there are two kinds of pride. One I would refer to as “virtuous pride” and the other, “arrogant pride”.

I believe that all pride, both virtuous and arrogant, is based in our individual concepts of rightness. What I mean is that each of us has a concept of something that we believe to be right, something that we hold as a standard of the highest and best in some given area. When we see in ourselves that we truly support or have accomplished that right thing or at least that we have some clear connection to it, feelings of pride come naturally because we believe that our adherence or connection to that right thing means that we have done right.

Let’s use a sports illustration. Say you are batting in a base-ball game and you hit a home run. You may be proud of that because you have succeeded in accomplishing what you (likely) believe to be a very high achievement in batting. There is legitimate reason to be pleased with what you have done because it is in fact a significant accomplishment and there is nothing morally wrong with taking pleasure in the fact that you have done well.

In fact, this is what I would define as virtuous pride. In your mind, you are simply taking pleasure in the fact that you have met a high standard of “rightness” in batting.

Arrogant pride occurs in the same instance when you allow that same success to lead you to believe that you are now su-perior in some way to others.Virtuous pride, as I would understand it, is limited to your own personal view of your-self as you compare yourself with your perceived standard of rightness. Internally, you see your standard of what is good, and on examining yourself, see that you have in some way compared satisfactorily with that standard. Meeting this standard brings pleasure because it is evidence that you have related well to that standard and therefore have done “right”.

Arrogant pride, however, goes beyond this limitation of comparing your achievement only to your standard by now seeking to exalt self over others based on your perceived success.

Virtuous pride is humility in that it seeks to subjugate self to whatever is perceived as right. Arrogant pride flies in the face of God, because it is all about using standards of right as stepping stones that help you walk over others.