The Sermon on the Mount: Consider the Lilies
13 August 2025 · 2 min read · Comfort & Grief
Take no thought for your life — Jesus' word against anxiety is not a rebuke but an argument, built from birds and wildflowers. Behold the fowls of the air: they sow not, neither reap, yet your heavenly Father feedeth them. Are ye not much better than they?
Behold the fowls of the air: for they sow not, neither do they reap, nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feedeth them. Are ye not much better than they?
The lily argument
Consider the lilies of the field: no toil, no spinning — and Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. If God dresses grass that is here today and burned tomorrow, shall he not much more clothe you, O ye of little faith?
The logic is from lesser to greater: the God who runs the bird-economy and the wildflower wardrobe has not overlooked his children. Anxiety, at bottom, is an accusation against the Father's attentiveness — and the lilies refute it.
But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you. Take therefore no thought for the morrow: for the morrow shall take thought for the things of itself. Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof.
One day at a time
The section ends with the great reordering — seek ye first the kingdom of God — and the great mercy: take therefore no thought for the morrow... sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof. Grace is issued in daily instalments; tomorrow's troubles cannot be paid for with today's strength.
Next time worry spins up, do the sermon's homework literally: go look at a bird. Watch it not worrying. Your Father feeds it — and knoweth that ye have need of all these things.
