Dandelion Pride

“Pride goes before destruction, and a haughty spirit before a fall” 

—Proverbs 16:18

Spring is the time of year when those who have been hibernating during the months of winter readily and joyously step outside into the cool, life-giving breezes of a new season, ready to embrace the outside world, to smell the fresh air, to see the green grass and clear blue skies, and work in their garden. Where I live, there are neatly manicured lawns that are so beautiful and well kept that I want to roll in it. For those who have ever attempted to keep their lawn green and beautiful, there is one enemy that can continually ruin it—the dreaded and hated dandelion.

Dandelions appear to be good—beautiful yellow flowers dotting various lawns, but for those who care about their yard and know anything about gardening, they are a despised weed that needs to be taken care of right at the root. The dandelion is so deceptive because it appears as a flower, but once its taken root; it’s near impossible to remove, until taken out at the root. And it reproduces rapidly and can quickly take over the best of yards. Tolerating a dandelion in your yard is a bit like having pride in your life. Pride, like a dandelion, appears as something virtuous or beautiful, but is deadly when left unchecked. Our world values pride—boasting of what one has or does, exalting how gifted we are and what we have accomplished. But pride is the most deceptive of sins, pregnant with all of the others. Greed, lust, adultery, theft, coveting, deceit, murder, and drunkenness are pride’s children. Pride was the sin of the devil and pride can take hold of the very best of saints. Pride, unlike many of the other sins, can be masked. While some sins are much more obvious—drunkenness, adultery, and theft, pride dwells in the heart. But pride, like a dandelion, can even appear to be beautiful, perhaps even look godly. But, it is not godly; it is self-righteousness—righteous living, perhaps, but wrongly motivated, because we find a way to boast of how good we are. Pride denounces sins in others not because one cares about whether or not someone sins—it’s really of no matter to the person who is proud. The proud person denounces sins in others as a means of exalting himself; that’s why it is so deceptive. As C.S. Lewis wrote,

“Pride is essentially competitive—is competitive by its very nature—while the other sins are competitive only, so to speak, by accident. Pride gets no pleasure out of having something, only out of having more of it than the next man. We say that people are proud of being rich, or clever, or good-looking, but they are not. They are proud of being richer, or smarter, or better-looking than others. If everyone else became equally rich, or clever, or good-looking there would be nothing to be proud about. It is the comparison that makes you proud: the pleasure of being above the rest. Once the element of competition has gone, pride has gone.”

How then do we rid ourselves of the dandelion of pride? We go to the root and tear it out, making sure to leave nothing that would enable it to continue to grow. We seek to be humble and continually ask God to help us be more like Christ. We don’t think and dwell upon ourselves, but upon Him. When one is basking in the sun’s rays, it’s hard to live in the shadows. Our goal is not to think more about ourselves, but less. We want to be so filled up with Christ that there is no room for ourselves. As Lewis said,

“Luckily, we have a test. Whenever we find that our religious life is making us feel that we are good—above all, that we are better than someone else –I think we may be sure that we are being acted on, not by God, but by the devil. The real test of being in the presence of God is, that you either forget about yourself altogether or see yourself as a small, dirty object. It is better to forget about yourself altogether.”

We must ask God to so fill us with Himself that we forget ourselves. As Jesus said, “Whoever finds his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for My sake will find it”—Matthew 10:39. May God grant us the ability to do it for His glory and our joy. Amen.