We often hear people say, follow your heart. But is that a biblical mindset or is it a worldly philosophy? God gives us the answer in His word.
On the surface, following your heart sounds good...
But be careful; God warns us in Proverbs about trusting our hearts:
He that trusteth in his own heart is a fool: but whoso walketh wisely, he shall be delivered (Proverbs 28:26).
He says that it is better to walk wisely than to trust our own hearts. To walk wisely is to walk in the word of God (cf. 1 Kings 2:3, 1 Chronicles 22:12, Galatians 3:1).
When a conflict arises between what our hearts tell us about something and what God says about it, the fool chooses his own heart rather than what the Bible says.
God tells us about our heart problem...
The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it (Jeremiah 17:9)?
God says our hearts ought not be listened to because they lie to us and are desperately wicked; meaning, our hearts are mortally ill, in the ancient Hebrew language.
We are fallen creatures with corrupt natures. As such, we cannot trust even our own selves. The heart is so wicked that it will deceive us into doing evil—we may believe we are doing the right thing in following our hearts, but in the end, we have been lied to.
The LORD says no one knows their own heart, but only He can know the heart (Jeremiah 17:9-10). So it is much better to follow the Lord who knows your heart than to trust your own heart.
We have to distinguish between what God tells us (which leads to life) and what the world tells us (which leads to nothing good).
It is the spirit that quickeneth; the flesh profiteth nothing: the words that I speak unto you, they are spirit, and they are life" (John 6:63).
To follow our hearts is to follow our flesh which, as the Lord says, gains us nothing. It is better to listen to the Lord in His word and enjoy a much better life.
If we are going to walk in Christ, we must always compare what the world tells us, with what the word of God tells us.
For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears; And they shall turn away their ears from the truth..." (2 Timothy 4:3-4).
Holding fast the faithful word as he hath been taught, that he may be able by sound doctrine both to exhort and to convince the gainsayers" (Titus 1:9).
But speak thou the things which become sound doctrine... (Titus 2:1).
We are living in a time when people reject the word of God in favor of feelings, emotions, or experiences even when they conflict with the Bible. God warns us not to fall into that trap.
So, if we do not follow our hearts, what do we follow?
Rather than listening to the world's philosophy of following our hearts (Colossians 2:8), we can help avoid deception by walking in God's Word.
If your heart is telling you something that conflicts with the teaching of God's word, trust God not your heart. The final determination must come from God's word than from our hearts.
By Jerry Smith
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Feature image source: Photo by Daan Stevens on Unsplash
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