Who do you trust?

Trust God

“Jesus said, 'Do not be concerned from morning until evening and from evening until morning about what you will wear.”

                                    Gnostic Gospel of Thomas, Verse 36

The spirituality group that I am part of on Sunday mornings is beginning a study of the Gnostic Gospel of Thomas today, starting with this verse. Gnosticism still exists today and is mainly an oral tradition—most of the instruction is done by a master (tau) teaching a student face to face. Modern Gnostics combine the teachings of scripture, the Jewish Kabbalah, and Rosicrusian philosophy. In the New Testament, we are shown examples of how Jesus taught in this way. He would take words from the Torah as they were written, and then he would explain their meaning at a deeper level.

Take the verse above from the Gospel of Thomas. At one level, Jesus is saying, “Don't worry about yourself. God will take care of your needs. Trust God.” In other words, stop worrying about what you do not have. What is important is that you take the focus off your physical need for clothing and place it instead on the work of your soul. In the New Testament, Jesus points to the sparrow, and to the lilies of the field as examples of this care and beauty—God provides for these, and God will provide for you as well.

At another level, this verse tells us that when we worry about our appearance, what we will wear, how we look to others, we are too preoccupied and self-absorbed with the ways of the world to be concerned with what God has in mind for our lives. According to Jesus, we are called out of the world, and the values of the world, and to the values of Spirit. What we wear, how we look, whether we are admired for our rich clothes and important bearing, is of no consequence to the Soul. In fact, we humans gather wisdom and further the evolution of our souls best when we experience hardship; when we have to trust God not just for our physical needs, but in resolving our trials and tribulations as well. We draw closer to God when we are uncomfortable, not when everything is going smoothly.

At a deeper level still, the verse encourages us to see no difference between good fortune and bad. To see the hand of God in both and be equally grateful. I feel myself shrink away when I read this, because I am not yet at that level of equanimity—I still don't like it when misfortune befalls me. I have a long way to go. How about you? Do you trust God in all things?

                                          In the spirit,

                                             Jane