Scripture reading: Romans 12:1–2

The Examined Life

You shall love the Lord your God with all your . . . mind. (Matthew 22:37)

 Socrates said, “The unexamined life is not worth living.” His point was that we humans, unlike the animals, need more than the basic necessities of life (air, food, water, etc.). Dogs may be perfectly content if they have food, water, and a pain-free day, but not humans. We crave meaning. For humans, life without significance is intolerable.

Few people have done more to promote “the examined life” than the mathematical genius and inventor Blaise Pascal (1623–1662). His invention of a calculating machine caused many to recognize him as the father of the modern computer. A life-changing spiritual experience at age 31 redirected Pascal’s thoughts from science and math to faith, and he set out to write a comprehensive Apology for the Christian Religion. Jotting down his pensées (French for “thoughts”) on fragments of paper, he hoped one day to develop these random ideas into a major work defending the Christian faith at the dawn of the Enlightenment. However, Pascal died at age 39 and never completed his project. After his death some friends collected his scattered papers and published his “thoughts” in their raw, unedited form. The result has become one of the great classics of Western literature. Pascal’s Pensées is a must-read for every thinking Christian. For 350 years his words have been of great assistance to those who are passionate about the discovery of life’s meaning. Below are a few of his more famous pensées, arranged by topic.

,. The human condition: Man is neither angel nor beast, and it is unfortunately the case that anyone trying to act the angel acts the beast. (#678)

,. Sin: There are only two kinds of men: the righteous who think they are sinners and the sinners who think they are righteous. (#562)

,. Prayer: God instituted prayer to impart to his creatures the dignity of causality. (#930)

,. Truth and Love: It is false piety to preserve peace at the expense of truth. It is also false zeal to preserve truth at the expense of love. (#949)

,. Nature: There are perfections in nature to show that she is the image of God and imperfections to show that she is no more than his image. (#934)

,. Reason: The heart has its reasons of which reason knows nothing. (#423)

,. Doubt: It is not certain that everything is uncertain. (#521)

,. Final judgment: There is enough evidence to condemn and not enough to convince, so that it should be apparent that those who follow the evidence are prompted to do so by grace and not by reason, and those who evade it are prompted by sensual desires and not by reason. (#835)

,. The wager: I should be much more afraid of being mistaken and then finding out that Christianity is true than of being mistaken in believing it to be true. (#387)

 

What I believe in my heart must make sense in my mind. —Ravi Zacharias

 

point to ponder • Do you love the Lord your God with all your mind?

prayer focus • Teachers, for discernment to impart—along with instruction—reason and wisdom to their students.