Daily Readings in Life of Christ - J.R. Miller (1890)

May 13. Lessons from Lilies

Without any toiling or spinning on their own part, God clothes the flowers in loveliness far surpassing any adornment which the most skillful human arts can provide. Flowers bloom but a day — and then fade. We are better than flowers. If our Father lavishes so much beauty on perishing plants — is there any danger that He will not provide clothing for His own redeemed children?

Of course it is not implied that like the lilies — we need neither labor nor spin. It is all right for lilies just to stand still and grow. That is their mission; that is the way God made them to grow. But He gave us hands, feet, brains, tongue, abilities, and will; and if we would be cared for as are the flowers — we must put forth our energies to produce the results of comfort. Yet Jesus tells us to consider how the lilies of the field grow. We ought to study the beautiful things in nature — and learn lessons from them. 

Here, it is a lesson of contentment which we are to learn. Who ever heard a lily complaining about its circumstances? It accepts the conditions in which it finds itself, and makes the best of them. It drinks in heaven's sweet light, air, dew, and rain — and unfolds its own loveliness in quietness and peace.

The lily grows from within. So ought we to grow, having within us the divine life, to be developed in our character and spirit.

The lily is an emblem of beauty; our spiritual life should unfold likewise in all lovely ways.

The lily is a picture of perfect peace. Who ever saw wrinkles of anxiety in a lily's face? God wants us to grow into peace.

The lily is fragrant; so should our lives be.

The lily sometimes grows in the black bog — but it remains unspotted. Thus should we live in this world, keeping ourselves unspotted amid its evil.

These are a few of the lessons from the lily.