Pascal’s Wager

1 John 4:16, John 3:16

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Are you familiar with Pascal’s Wager?

Blaise Pascal was a 17th century mathematician, physicist, and philosopher. And his wager, his argument is that if he is wrong, as a Christian, if Christians are wrong, if atheists are right, and there is no God, then there’s nothing is lost at the moment of death. Nothing happens. Christians haven’t lost anything. They’re just wrong. The other side of the argument, though, is that if Christianity is true, if there is a God, and if there is a heaven and a hell, then there’s something great to be gained for the Christian, for the believer, and there’s a whole lot to be lost for the atheist. Eternity in hell.

So basically, it’s a good bet. It’s a safe wager to believe in God.

That argument might have some force. It might be used when we’re talking to an atheist about the importance of thinking about things spiritually and about the importance of considering Christianity.

But is that why we as Christians believe?

Is it just to hedge our bets just in case there is a God, we better believe in him. Is it because we’re afraid of going to hell?

It’s not. We believe because by God’s grace, he has worked faith in our hearts. And he has brought us to know Jesus as our Lord and Savior. And we know his love for us. And so we’ve grown to trust him. As we read in first John 4:16.

We also have come to know and trust the love that God has for us. (1 John 4:16)

So we believe because God has worked faith in our hearts. We love because by God’s grace, we know the love of God, that God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. (John 3:16)

This makes all the difference for us.

We have peace because we know the peace that Jesus has won for us, in paying for all of our sins, and in forgiving all of our sins. And so we are at peace with God, and we have an eternal future secure for us in heaven. And so we have eternal hope. Hope that doesn’t change. Hope that doesn’t fade away.

And that’s why we tell others of God. Not to brag. Not because we have to. Not just in case. It’s because we want them to know the hope and the joy and the peace and the love that we have in God.

May God bless us as we walk in that love, live in that love and share that love. Amen.