Blaise Pascal was a seventeenth century French mathematician, philosopher, inventor, writer, and theologian. A child prodigy, he helped transform modern society.

He is someone every Christian should know.

Blaise Pascal was born in 1623 and died in 1662. He did not live to be age 40 but made a profound difference in many ways. He invented the Pascaline, an early calculator, and laid the foundation for the modern theory of probabilities. This last week a man with a terminal degree in geophysics talked about the profound contribution made by Pascal.

But, he is known not only for mathematics but also for philosophy and theology.

He is the author of some amazing quotes.

People in my office know I prefer brief rather that extensive. I often request, “please give me a one page summary.” One page that gets to the point is much to me better than many pages. For this reason, you can see why I love this quote, “I have made this letter longer than usual because I lack the time to make it shorter.”

Think of these quotes as well:

“Kind words do not cost much. Yet they accomplish much.”

“Men despise religion. They hate it and are afraid it may be true.”

“Do you wish people to speak well of you? Don’t speak well of yourself.”

Pascal was well known for his famed “wager,” “Belief is a wise wager. Granted that faith cannot be proved, what harm will come to you if you gamble on its truth and it proves false? If you gain, you gain all; if you lose, you lose nothing. Wager then, without hesitation, that He exists.”

For many of us, he is best known for the concept behind a God-shaped hole or vacuum. In his Pensees (Thoughts), he wrote:

“What else does this craving, and this helplessness, proclaim but that there was once in man a true happiness, of which all that now remains is the empty print and trace? This he tries in vain to fill with everything around him, seeking in things that are now there the help he cannot find in those that are, though none can help, since this infinite abyss can be filled only with an infinite and immutable object; in other words by God himself.”

We all have this need that only God can satisfy.

Each day I write a devotional for the followers of Christ. If you would like to receive your own daily copy of my thoughts about life and Scripture, you can subscribe at waylonbailey.com or in the box below.