{"id":9667,"date":"2007-05-05T21:31:49","date_gmt":"2007-05-06T02:31:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/?p=9667"},"modified":"2019-09-13T21:35:04","modified_gmt":"2019-09-14T02:35:04","slug":"could-you-explain-the-phrase-consider-the-lilies","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/could-you-explain-the-phrase-consider-the-lilies\/","title":{"rendered":"Could you explain the phrase, &#8220;consider the lilies?&#8221;"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\t<h2>Question:<\/h2>\n<p>Please explain to me exactly what Jesus meant when He said, &#8220;Consider the lilies.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Thank you.<\/p>\n\t<h2>Answer:<\/h2>\n<blockquote><p>&#8220;<em>Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal; but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. The lamp of the body is the eye. If therefore your eye is good, your whole body will be full of light. But if your eye is bad, your whole body will be full of darkness. If therefore the light that is in you is darkness, how great is that darkness! No one can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or else he will be loyal to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon. Therefore I say to you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink; nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food and the body more than clothing? Look at the birds of the air, for they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? Which of you by worrying can add one cubit to his stature? So why do you worry about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin; and yet I say to you that even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. Now if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is, and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will He not much more clothe you, O you of little faith? Therefore do not worry, saying, &#8216;What shall we eat?&#8217; or &#8216;What shall we drink?&#8217; or &#8216;What shall we wear?&#8217; For after all these things the Gentiles seek. For your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things. But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you. Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about its own things. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble&#8221;<\/em>\u00a0(Matthew 6:19-34).<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>If God takes the time to make plants look pretty even though they only last a very short while, shouldn&#8217;t we understand that God will see to our needs &#8212; we who are longer lived and of a higher order than the plants? Therefore, there is no need to focus concern on where we will find clothing to wear. God will see to our needs if we put His work first in our lives. A part of God&#8217;s commands to us is to work for our living (II Thessalonians 3:10). Thus, but conforming our lives to God&#8217;s will, our basic necessities will be taken care of.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Question: Please explain to me exactly what Jesus meant when He said, &#8220;Consider the lilies.&#8221; Thank you. Answer: &#8220;Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal; but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"jetpack_seo_schema_type":"","footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[20],"tags":[385,76,906],"class_list":["post-9667","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-answer","tag-contentment","tag-terminology","tag-worry"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":46577,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/the-heavenly-mindset\/","url_meta":{"origin":9667,"position":0},"title":"The Heavenly Mindset","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"November 29, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"by Dennis Stackhouse In writing the church at Colossae, Paul said this in Colossians 3:1:\u00a0\"Therefore if you have been raised up with Christ, keep seeking the things above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God.\"\u00a0 We know the apostle is addressing baptized believers, as these people had\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Article&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":42652,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/is-it-wrong-to-be-competitive-in-school\/","url_meta":{"origin":9667,"position":1},"title":"Is it wrong to be competitive in school?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"April 27, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Is it wrong to be competitive in school? I know that God stresses the importance of education, but I see myself to be very competitive when it comes to grades. It's not an ego thing where I get scores to show off or anything, but it is because I\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Answer&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":7632,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/what-is-mammon\/","url_meta":{"origin":9667,"position":2},"title":"What is mammon?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"October 24, 2006","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: What is 'mammon'? In Luke 16, it is talking about the steward who wasted his master's goods. I don't fully understand this chapter. Please help. Also, I would like to say that I truly appreciate your website. I am a person who fell away from the church a very\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Answer&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":27837,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/do-you-think-that-jesus-will-talk-to-me-about-my-plans\/","url_meta":{"origin":9667,"position":3},"title":"Do you think that Jesus will talk to me about my plans?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"June 25, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Hi, I'm a 19-year-old college student and have a close relationship with Christ. Lately, I have been having mixed emotions about life. (I've read what you said about feelings). It isn't that I'm ungrateful for the gift of life, it's just that in looking at the world in a\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Answer&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":59910,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/surviving-the-financial-crisis\/","url_meta":{"origin":9667,"position":4},"title":"Surviving the Financial Crisis","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"March 14, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"by Kent Heaton A financial crisis occurs when the crisis of a man's soul is dependent upon the financial condition of his heart. Samuel Johnson said, \"The love of money has been in all ages, one of the passions that have given great disturbances to the tranquility of the world\"\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Article&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/03\/money.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":45902,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/should-christians-be-involved-in-expensive-hobbies\/","url_meta":{"origin":9667,"position":5},"title":"Should Christians be involved in expensive hobbies?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"September 5, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Hello, Thank you for your tireless work towards teaching God's Word and helping people understand the truth!\u00a0 I can appreciate the amount of hard work necessary to provide the amount of material found here.\u00a0 It truly is a great resource for those of us looking for biblical answers to\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Answer&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9667","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9667"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9667\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9667"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9667"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9667"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}