Scripture reading: I Kings 18:17–21

The Wager

This day I call heaven and earth as witnesses against you that I have set before you life and death, blessings and curses. Now choose life, so that you and your children may live. (Deuteronomy 30:19)

 

Blaise Pascal (1623–1662), with a desire to write a comprehensive defense of the Christian faith, wrote his thoughts as they came to him on any piece of paper he could find. But he died before he could complete his project. His friends collected these scattered papers and published Pensées (French for “Thoughts”), one of the great classics of western literature.

One of Pascal’s most famous “thoughts” was “The Wager.” Here Pascal sought to prove that it is eminently reasonable to believe in God. He made his argument in gamblers’ terms.

Either God is or he is not. But to which view shall we be inclined? . . . A coin is being spun which will come down heads or tails. How will you wager?

. . . Yes, but you must wager. There is no choice, you are already commit- ted. Which will you choose then? . . . Let us weigh up the gain and the loss involved in calling heads that God exists. Let us assess the two cases: if you win you win everything, if you lose you lose nothing. Do not hesitate then; wager that he does exist.

I tell you that you will gain even in this life, and that at every step you take along this road you will see that your gain is so certain and your risk so negligible that in the end you will realize that you have wagered on something certain and infinite for which you have paid nothing. How these words fill me with rapture and delight!

You must choose. There is no way out. Not to decide is to decide. So how will you choose? Pascal shows us that choosing to believe in God is a wise “bet.” To choose a life of faith will produce a multitude of benefits even if one should discover at the end that God does not exist. But to choose a life of unbelief will bring incalculable loss if at the end you discover that he does exist! Therefore, wager that God exists. Put your faith totally and completely in Him. You have everything to gain and nothing to lose but your sins.

Jim Elliot knew a good risk when he saw one. Martyred for his faith by Auca Indians in Ecuador in 1956, he stated succinctly the wisdom of betting all on God: “He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain what he cannot lose.”

Choice is inevitable. Don’t imagine that indecision is not in and of itself a decision! Therefore, choose life!

 

 

Atheism turns out to be too simple. If the whole universe has no meaning,

we should never have found out that it has no meaning . . .  —C. S. Lewis

 

point to ponder • Does reason lead to faith, or does faith lead to reason?

prayer focus  • For those you know who have shut the door on God, that they will choose the life he offers.