DECEMBER 6, 2025

  "Men never do evil so completely and cheerfully as when they do it from religious conviction.”  

― Blaise Pascal

DANIEL 7-8

1In the first year of Belshazzar king of Babylon, Daniel had a dream, and visions passed through his mind as he was lying in bed. He wrote down the substance of his dream.(7:1) 

1 JOHN  5

1Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ is born of God, and everyone who loves the father loves his child as well. 2This is how we know that we love the children of God: by loving God and carrying out his commands. 3In fact, this is love for God: to keep his commands. And his commands are not burdensome, 4for everyone born of God overcomes the world. This is the victory that has overcome the world, even our faith. 5Who is it that overcomes the world? Only the one who believes that Jesus is the Son of God.

JOURNAL 

Pascal was on to something when he said that men can do evil with cheerfulness when they convince themselves it is religious. That line hits because evil rarely announces itself with a pitchfork. It usually shows up disguised as certainty, pride, and the refusal to be humbled.

Daniel understood this which is why even his dreams were rooted in honesty and dependence on God. And John reminds us that loving God means carrying out his commands with a posture that does not see them as burdens but as the way into life. The one who believes in Jesus overcomes the world not because belief makes us strong, but because belief makes us surrendered.

What I keep learning is that so much of this comes back to habits. If being willingly humbled is not a common practice, then the soul very quickly slides into self absorption. Fear creeps in. Jealousy follows. And before we know it, we are doing all sorts of small evils that feel justified because we never slowed down long enough to realize how twisted our motives have become.

For me, the habits that pull me back to humility are meditation, prayer, scripture, and the gentle daily reminder that I am not nearly as competent as I pretend to be. Marriage helps with this part more than anything. God truly works all things for good, especially through a spouse who loves you enough to tell you the truth with precision.

Scott Peck defined evil as hatred of the light because it reveals us to ourselves. He said evil hates goodness because goodness exposes laziness, and evil hates love because love requires real effort. So evil tries to extinguish the very things that would heal it. And I recognize that in myself. I do not enjoy confronting my failures or my potential for darkness, yet it absolutely exists. Avoiding that reality is dangerous because without the habits that humble me, I will naturally shift into self protection and blind spots.

This is why scripture is so essential. It holds a mirror to the parts of my character that prefer staying hidden. It forces me into honesty before God. Without that honesty, I risk drifting into a version of faith that uses religious conviction to justify fear, anger, or superiority. That kind of faith becomes exactly what Pascal warned about. It becomes a cheerful form of evil.

The real task of this life is to live in a full and unabashed relationship with God. That relationship gives us a strength that is beyond us and a love that is deeper than the surface level affection our culture celebrates. Obedience to God anchors us psychologically and spiritually to the one who is truth and love. This foundation holds firm through any storm. It gives peace that does not depend on circumstances.

Rejecting this relationship leaves us unanchored. Without God we drift, tossed around by fear, insecurity, resentment, and every cultural storm of the moment. It is not a fate anyone wants because it pits us against the very God who longs to transform us.

1Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God—this is your true and proper worship. 2Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.

ROMANS 12:1-2