31 August
2020
Using Your Head
Prudence means
practical common sense, taking the trouble to think out what you are doing and
what is likely to come of it. Nowadays most people hardly think of Prudence as
one of the ‘virtues’. In fact, because Christ said we could only get into His
world by being like children, many Christians have the idea that, provided you
are ‘good’, it does not matter being a fool. But that is a misunderstanding. In
the first place, most children show plenty of ‘prudence’ about doing the things
they are really interested in, and think them out quite sensibly. In the second
place, as St. Paul points out, Christ never meant that we were to remain
children in intelligence: on the contrary. He told us to be not only ‘as
harmless as doves’, but also ‘as wise as serpents’. He wants a child’s heart,
but a grown-up’s head. He wants us to be simple, single-minded, affectionate,
and teachable, as good children are; but He also wants every bit of
intelligence we have to be alert at its job, and in first-class fighting trim.
The fact that you are giving money to a charity does not mean that you need not
try to find out whether that charity is a fraud or not. The fact that what you
are thinking about is God Himself (for example, when you are praying) does not
mean that you can be content with the same babyish ideas which you had when you
were a five-year-old. It is, of course, quite true that God will not love you
any the less, or have less use for you, if you happen to have been born with a
very second-rate brain. He has room for people with very little sense, but He
wants every one to use what sense they have.
