Matthew 6:27

And which of you by being anxious can add one cubit to the measure of his life? and why are ye anxious concerning raiment? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they toil not, neither do they spin: yet I say unto you, that even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these.

Although the emphasis in this entire context is away from the material and workaday needs of life, there is no repudiation of such prosaic virtues as work, thrift, responsibility, and diligence. These verses are not license to leave the care and feeding of one's family to others or to the state (1 Timothy 5:8). Edgar appropriately gathers the import of these words as follows:

Consider how poor the life is which makes eating and dressing the chief thought. A man's life is intended to be much more assuredly than this; and, yet, are there not some who have no thought beyond this? The weight of anxiety is purely secular and physical. The devotees of the table and of the fashions make eating and drinking all. Now the idea of the passage is that no one is so circumstanced as to be compelled to think only or chiefly of food and raiment. There is not a poor man but may feel that he was born for higher thoughts and things than to "keep the pot boiling."Luke 1, p. 358.">[4]