“This past Wednesday was Valentine’s Day. The “heart” narrative and symbols of that day got me thinking. We are told that it is totally acceptable to trust and follow our heart. In fact, we are taught that our heart can decide what is right for us! A person will leave a church and say, ‘I did not feel right in my heart there’. A man may leave his wife and children for a younger woman saying, ‘My heart was not in my marriage any longer’”. (Letgdbetrue)
What about the young couple who is confident of a life-partner because they are “following their hearts”? The phrase “I’m going to follow my heart” is used regularly to validate violations of moral, ethical and scriptural principles when decision-making.
I recently listened to an audio, sent by my granddaughter, Alexandra Grace, that was so on point regarding the use of the word “heart”. How often do we hear the advice, “just follow your heart” when facing difficult decisions? Or “You can trust your heart”…
This past week was Valentine’s Day. It seems appropriate to address issues of the heart. This blog is taken from Proverbs 28: 26 and “heart” is used as a metonym for affections, inclinations and thoughts.
“He that trusts in his own heart is a fool:
but he who walks wisely…will be delivered.”
“Your heart is your internal set of desires and needs that affect your decision-making. This is not your conscience. This is your anti-conscience! This is the set of passions that drives most men and women. God has spoken about our heart. He said, ‘The heart is deceitfully wicked above all things and desperately wicked: who can know it?’” Jer. 19:9 (letgodbetrue)
The fact that our heart has an opinion and passion about everything and reacts instantly to what it wants, should be our first warning sign in decision-making. “If you follow its direction, you are a fool! If you listen to your heart, you are a fool. If you follow your heart, you are a fool. If you make decisions even partially influenced by your heart, you are a fool. You are submitting to the most deceitful, depraved and dangerous source of information on earth.”
Now that we have stated the obvious…it is clear that
we are our own worst enemy…
What are we to do?
At the fall of man in the garden, all affection for God, spiritual truth and wisdom died. Our desires became corrupted…no longer a desire to seek God, please God or obey God. We took on a new leader who is bent on destroying us; who came to do three things: steal, kill and destroy us.. (Jn. 8: 44) Steal our joy, opportunity…; kill our bodies…; and destroy our relationships, vision and destiny. He tells us our heart, which is led by feelings, lust and arrogance of our own thoughts, will lead us. We are fools to believe that plan, let alone follow it! “We do not have the right to our thoughts; but we do have a responsibility to right thoughts”! (Letgodbetrue)
“True wisdom is learning to mistrust your heart, reject its voice, and make all decisions on the basis of absolute and objective truth.
Where is the source for such fabulous decision making?
In the inspired words of the living God recorded in the Bible! It is learning God’s words and training yourself to make decisions based on them that you can be wise and saved from the deceitful impulses of your depraved “heart”. (letgodbetrue) Fearing God and asking God to direct our footsteps according to His word is the beginning of wisdom. (Psa. 119: 133) This is the key to being delivered from the pitfalls and obstacles that clobber and confuse those who have chosen to “follow their heart” … “The degree of our wisdom is the degree to which we can crush our ‘heart’ to submit to the words of God in the Bible”! (letgodbetrue)
How wise are you?
~Jackie Johnson - I am a former tribal missionary to the Kuna Indians on the Colombian border in Central America. Fluent in several languages, my husband and I currently pastor a Spanish-speaking church in Southern California. My passion is mentoring and equipping dedicated young women for life, marriage, motherhood, and beyond. I am the mother of two daughters and the grandmother of three Princesses and four young Knights.
