Heartthoughts: Consider the Lilies

"Would you like a lily?" my pastor's wife asked after church last night.  "We have a few left." Apparently they were giving away the potted plants that had graced the altar for Sunday's Easter service. We had been out of town, so I was surprised at the still-beautiful plants and happily accepted one. I love the look it adds to my porch in the wicker basket where I placed it.

Easter lilies are always associated with Christ's resurrection, although we have no proof that they were anywhere near the tomb.  Jesus did speak of the lovely flower though, when He said in Matthew 6:28-29, "And why take ye thought for raiment? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they toil not, neither do they spin: And yet I say unto you, That even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these."

Although it is nice to get new, spring clothes for Easter, especially for the children, Jesus tells us not to be anxious or worried about clothing. I loved buying something new for our kids to wear on Easter when they were home, and I especially liked getting new white shoes for the baby in the high-top style that was a given then.

Previously, in verse 25, as Jesus teaches in relation to anxiety, he says, "Therefore I say unto you, Take no thought for your life, what shall ye eat, or what shall ye drink; nor yet for your body, what shall ye put on.  Is not the life more than meat, and the body than raiment?"

In the sad commentary of today's thinking, some people do not want to keep their unborn child because of inconvenience or money problems.  But Jesus plainly tells us that life is more than food and clothes. He obviously valued life for itself, no matter what the circumstances. (I'm sure there were many poor people then who considered children their greatest gift. They would think the poorest among us rich by their standards.)

Who knows what contributions the lost children could have added to our society?  No doubt they carried genes for art, music, science, and any number of traits useful for the good of man. Now there is doubt that there will even be enough tax-payers in the future to support our economy and way of life.

But rather than worry about all these things, Jesus tells us in verse 33, "But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you."

I was told I could plant my Easter lily, and it would grow back next year.  Lilies are grown from bulbs, and although the bulbs are buried, in the spring they burst forth with new life.  Just as Jesus was "buried" in the tomb, He arose in a glorious resurrection, giving us the hope and certainty that when we die as Christians, we will rise to a glorious new life!